Modeling Atmospheric and Oceanic Flows

Thomas Gerd Von Larcher is a researcher in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Institute for Mathematics at Free University, Berlin, Germany. He completed his doctorate in Engineering Technology. He has authored a few research articles and book chapters. His research interests include finite element method, fluid mechanics, computational fluid dynamics, computational physics, heat transfer, oceanography, fluid flow, numerical modeling. Paul D Williams is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Reading, in the Department of Meteorology and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. He is at the Readership grade. He has authored over 80 research articles including a recent publication in Nature Climate Change. His research interests include studying the atmosphere and ocean, and their role in weather and climate, using mathematical and numerical models and laboratory experiments. He is also currently the Editor of Geophysical Research Letters.

• Contributors vii Preface xiAcknowledgments xiiiIntroduction: Simulations of Natural Flows in the Laboratory and on a Computer 1Paul F LindenSection I: Baroclinic-Driven Flows1 General Circulation of Planetary Atmospheres: Insights from Rotating Annulus and Related Experiments9Peter L Read, Edgar P Pérez, Irene M Moroz, and Roland M B Young2 Primary Flow Transitions in the Baroclinic Annulus: Prandtl Number Effects 45Gregory M Lewis, Nicolas Périnet, and Lennaert van Veen  3 Amplitude Vacillation in Baroclinic Flows 61Wolf-Gerrit Früh  Section II: Balanced and Unbalanced Flows4 Rotation Effects on Wall-Bounded Flows: Some Laboratory Experiments 85P Henrik Alfredsson and Rebecca J Lingwood5 Altimetry in a GFD Laboratory and Flows on the Polar β-Plane 101Yakov D Afanasyev   6 Instabilities of Shallow-Water Flows with Vertical Shear in the Rotating Annulus 119Jonathan Gula and Vladimir Zeitlin7 Laboratory Experiments on Flows Over Bottom Topography 139Luis Zavala Sansón and Gert-Jan van Heijst 8 Direct Numerical Simulations of Laboratory-Scale Stratified Turbulence 159Michael LWaite Section III: Atmospheric Flows9 Numerical Simulation (DNS, LES) of Geophysical Laboratory Experiments: Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) Analogue and Simulations Toward Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) Analogue 179Nils PWedi 10 Internal Waves in Laboratory Experiments 193Bruce Sutherland, Thierry Dauxois, and Thomas Peacock  11 Frontal Instabilities at Density–Shear Interfaces in Rotating Two-Layer Stratified Fluids 213Hélène Scolan, Roberto Verzicco, and Jan-Bert Flór   Section IV: Oceanic Flows12 Large-Amplitude Coastal Shelf Waves 231Andrew L Stewart, Paul J Dellar, and Edward R Johnson  13 Laboratory Experiments With Abrupt Thermohaline Transitions and Oscillations 255John A Whitehead14 Oceanic Island Wake Flows in the Laboratory 265Alexandre StegnerSection V: Advances in Methodology15 Lagrangian Methods in Experimental Fluid Mechanics 279Mickael Bourgoin, Jean-François Pinton, and Romain Volk  16 A High-Resolution Method for Direct Numerical Simulation of Instabilities and Transitions in a Baroclinic Cavity 297Anthony Randriamampianina and Emilia Crespo del Arco  17 Orthogonal Decomposition Methods to Analyze PIV, LDV, and Thermography Data of Thermally Driven Rotating Annulus Laboratory Experiments 315Uwe Harlander, Thomas von Larcher, Grady BWright, Michael Hoff, Kiril Alexandrov, and Christoph Egbers  Index  337