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Zonal Jets in Rotating Shallow Water Turbulence

Received: 14 March 2013    Accepted:     Published: 2 April 2013
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Abstract

During the last three decades, the appearance of multiple zonal jets in planetary atmospheres and in the Earth’s oceans has widely studied. Evidences of this phenomenon were recovered in numerical simulations [1], laboratory experi-ments [2-4] and in field measurements of giant planets’ atmosphere [5]. Recent studies have revealed the presence of zonation also in the Earth’s oceans; in fact, zonal jets were recovered in the outputs of Oceanic General Circulation Models-GCMs [6] and from satellite altimetry observations [7]. In previous works [3-4], we have investigated the impact of several experimental parameters on jets organization both in decaying and forced regimes. This work shows new results in the context of continuously forced flows obtained performing experiments in a bigger domain. The experimental set-up consists of a rotating tank where the initial distribution of vorticity is generated via the Lorentz force in an electromagnetic cell and the latitudinal variation of the Coriolis parameter is simulated by the parabolic profile assumed by the free surface of the rotating fluid. The velocity fields were measured using an image analysis technique. The flow is characterized in terms of zonal and radial flow pattern, flow variability and jet scales.

DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11
Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 2, Issue 2, April 2013)
Page(s) 23-30
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Zonal Jets, Β-Plane Turbulence, Laboratory Experiments

References
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  • APA Style

    G. Di Nitto, S. Espa, A. Cenedese. (2013). Zonal Jets in Rotating Shallow Water Turbulence. Earth Sciences, 2(2), 23-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11

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    ACS Style

    G. Di Nitto; S. Espa; A. Cenedese. Zonal Jets in Rotating Shallow Water Turbulence. Earth Sci. 2013, 2(2), 23-30. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11

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    AMA Style

    G. Di Nitto, S. Espa, A. Cenedese. Zonal Jets in Rotating Shallow Water Turbulence. Earth Sci. 2013;2(2):23-30. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11,
      author = {G. Di Nitto and S. Espa and A. Cenedese},
      title = {Zonal Jets in Rotating Shallow Water Turbulence},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {23-30},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20130202.11},
      abstract = {During the last three decades, the appearance of multiple zonal jets in planetary atmospheres and in the Earth’s oceans has widely studied. Evidences of this phenomenon were recovered in numerical simulations [1], laboratory experi-ments [2-4] and in field measurements of giant planets’ atmosphere [5]. Recent studies have revealed the presence of zonation also in the Earth’s oceans; in fact, zonal jets were recovered in the outputs of Oceanic General Circulation Models-GCMs [6] and from satellite altimetry observations [7]. In previous works [3-4], we have investigated the impact of several experimental parameters on jets organization both in decaying and forced regimes. This work shows new results in the context of continuously forced flows obtained performing experiments in a bigger domain. The experimental set-up consists of a rotating tank where the initial distribution of vorticity is generated via the Lorentz force in an electromagnetic cell and the latitudinal variation of the Coriolis parameter is simulated by the parabolic profile assumed by the free surface of the rotating fluid. The velocity fields were measured using an image analysis technique. The flow is characterized in terms of zonal and radial flow pattern, flow variability and jet scales.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Zonal Jets in Rotating Shallow Water Turbulence
    AU  - G. Di Nitto
    AU  - S. Espa
    AU  - A. Cenedese
    Y1  - 2013/04/02
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    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11
    T2  - Earth Sciences
    JF  - Earth Sciences
    JO  - Earth Sciences
    SP  - 23
    EP  - 30
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20130202.11
    AB  - During the last three decades, the appearance of multiple zonal jets in planetary atmospheres and in the Earth’s oceans has widely studied. Evidences of this phenomenon were recovered in numerical simulations [1], laboratory experi-ments [2-4] and in field measurements of giant planets’ atmosphere [5]. Recent studies have revealed the presence of zonation also in the Earth’s oceans; in fact, zonal jets were recovered in the outputs of Oceanic General Circulation Models-GCMs [6] and from satellite altimetry observations [7]. In previous works [3-4], we have investigated the impact of several experimental parameters on jets organization both in decaying and forced regimes. This work shows new results in the context of continuously forced flows obtained performing experiments in a bigger domain. The experimental set-up consists of a rotating tank where the initial distribution of vorticity is generated via the Lorentz force in an electromagnetic cell and the latitudinal variation of the Coriolis parameter is simulated by the parabolic profile assumed by the free surface of the rotating fluid. The velocity fields were measured using an image analysis technique. The flow is characterized in terms of zonal and radial flow pattern, flow variability and jet scales.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • DICEA, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

  • DICEA, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

  • DICEA, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy

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