The stability of oceanic fronts in a shallow water model

2015 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
pp. 462-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Chanona ◽  
F. J. Poulin ◽  
J. Yawney
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Wave Structure ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Length Scales ◽  
Oceanic Fronts ◽  
Energy Cascades ◽  
Constant Potential ◽  
The Stability

We investigate mechanisms through which energy cascades from the mesoscale, $O(100~\text{km})$, to the submesoscale, $O(10~\text{km})$, for oceanic fronts in a reduced gravity shallow water model using two different profiles. The first idealization of an ocean front has an interfacial depth that is a smooth hyperbolic tangent profile and is an extension of the piecewise constant potential vorticity profile studied in Boss et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 315, 1996, pp. 65–84). By considering a range of minimum depths, all of which have the same velocity profile, we are better able to isolate the effect of vanishing layer depths. We find that the most unstable mode exists in a one-layer model and does not need two layers, as previously speculated. Moreover, we find that even without a vanishing layer depth there are other modes that appear at both larger and smaller length scales that have a gravity wave structure. The second profile is the parabolic double front from Scherer & Zeitlin (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 613, 2008, pp. 309–327). We find more unstable modes than previously presented and also categorize them based on the mode number. In particular, we find there are pairs of unstable modes that have equal growth rates. We also study the nonlinear evolution of these oceanic fronts. It is determined that vanishing layer depths have significant effects on the unstable dynamics that arise. First, stronger gravity wave fields are generated. Second, cyclonic fluid that moves into the deeper waters is stretched preferentially more in comparison to the deep water scenario and destabilizes more easily. This results in smaller scale vortices, both cyclones and anticyclones, that have length scales in the submesoscale regime. Our results suggest that the nonlinear dynamics of a front can be very efficient at generating submesoscale motions.

scholarly journals Wave interactions in a shallow-water model

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-144
Author(s):  
K. Wiklund
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Wave Interaction ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Hamiltonian Method ◽  
Wave Interactions ◽  
Atmospheric Flows ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Small Shear

Abstract. By using a Hamiltonian method, non-linear three-wave interaction in a class of systems related to the shallow water model is considered and a general coupling coefficient is presented. In the special case where two inertial waves and one Rossby wave interact resonantly, it is found that even a very small shear of the background velocity can be important in the interaction process. The stability of the system is considered by using a pseudo-energy method. Some implications for the dynamics of atmospheric flows are pointed out.

scholarly journals Simply-connected vortex-patch shallow-water quasi-equilibria

2014 ◽  
Vol 743 ◽  
pp. 481-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Płotka ◽  
D. G. Dritschel
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics ◽  
Vortex Patch ◽  
Horizontal Size ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Simply Connected ◽  
Boundary Of Stability

AbstractWe examine the form, properties, stability and evolution of simply-connected vortex-patch relative quasi-equilibria in the single-layer $f$-plane shallow-water model of geophysical fluid dynamics. We examine the effects of the size, shape and strength of vortices in this system, represented by three distinct parameters completely describing the families of the quasi-equilibria. Namely, these are the ratio $\gamma = L/L_D$ between the horizontal size of the vortices and the Rossby deformation length; the aspect ratio $\lambda $ between the minor to major axes of the vortex; and a potential vorticity (PV)-based Rossby number $\mathit{Ro}= q^{\prime }/f$, the ratio of the PV anomaly $q^{\prime }$ within the vortex to the Coriolis frequency $f$. By defining an appropriate steadiness parameter, we find that the quasi-equilibria remain steady for long times, enabling us to determine the boundary of stability $\lambda _c=\lambda _c(\gamma ,\mathit{Ro})$, for $0.25 \leq \gamma \leq 6$ and $\delimiter "026A30C \mathit{Ro}\delimiter "026A30C \leq 1$. By calling two states which share $\gamma ,\delimiter "026A30C \mathit{Ro}\delimiter "026A30C $ and $\lambda $ ‘equivalent’, we find a clear asymmetry in the stability of cyclonic ($\mathit{Ro}> 0$) and anticyclonic ($\mathit{Ro}<0$) equilibria, with cyclones being able to sustain greater deformations than anticyclones before experiencing an instability. We find that ageostrophic motions stabilise cyclones and destabilise anticyclones. Both types of vortices undergo the same main types of unstable evolution, albeit in different ranges of the parameter space, (a) vacillations for large-$\gamma $, large-$\mathit{Ro}$ states, (b) filamentation for small-$\gamma $ states and (c) vortex splitting, asymmetric for intermediate-$\gamma $ and symmetric for large-$\gamma $ states.

The instability of vertically curved fronts in a two-layer shallow water model

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 124117
Author(s):  
M. W. Harris ◽  
F. J. Poulin ◽  
K. G. Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Shallow Water Model

scholarly journals Modelling Weirs in Two-Dimensional Shallow Water Models

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2152
Author(s):  
Gonzalo García-Alén ◽  
Olalla García-Fonte ◽  
Luis Cea ◽  
Luís Pena ◽  
Jerónimo Puertas
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Shallow Water Equations ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Experimental Dataset ◽  
River Hydraulics ◽  
Shallow Water Models ◽  
Water Models

2D models based on the shallow water equations are widely used in river hydraulics. However, these models can present deficiencies in those cases in which their intrinsic hypotheses are not fulfilled. One of these cases is in the presence of weirs. In this work we present an experimental dataset including 194 experiments in nine different weirs. The experimental data are compared to the numerical results obtained with a 2D shallow water model in order to quantify the discrepancies that exist due to the non-fulfillment of the hydrostatic pressure hypotheses. The experimental dataset presented can be used for the validation of other modelling approaches.

scholarly journals Development of a Practical Model for Predicting Soil Salinity in a Salt Marsh in the Arakawa River Estuary

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2054
Author(s):  
Naoki Kuroda ◽  
Katsuhide Yokoyama ◽  
Tadaharu Ishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Soil Salinity ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
Practical Model

Our group has studied the spatiotemporal variation of soil and water salinity in an artificial salt marsh along the Arakawa River estuary and developed a practical model for predicting soil salinity. The salinity of the salt marsh and the water level of a nearby channel were measured once a month for 13 consecutive months. The vertical profile of the soil salinity in the salt marsh was measured once monthly over the same period. A numerical flow simulation adopting the shallow water model faithfully reproduced the salinity variation in the salt marsh. Further, we developed a soil salinity model to estimate the soil salinity in a salt marsh in Arakawa River. The vertical distribution of the soil salinity in the salt marsh was uniform and changed at almost the same time. The hydraulic conductivity of the soil, moreover, was high. The uniform distribution of salinity and high hydraulic conductivity could be explained by the vertical and horizontal transport of salinity through channels burrowed in the soil by organisms. By combining the shallow water model and the soil salinity model, the soil salinity of the salt marsh was well reproduced. The above results suggest that a stable brackish ecotone can be created in an artificial salt marsh using our numerical model as a design tool.

Diffusion Experiments with a Global Discontinuous Galerkin Shallow-Water Model

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (10) ◽  
pp. 3339-3350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramachandran D. Nair
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Discontinuous Galerkin ◽  
Water Model ◽  
Order System ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Shallow Water Model ◽  
First Order ◽  
Advection Diffusion Equation ◽  
Diffusion Scheme ◽  
Cubed Sphere

Abstract A second-order diffusion scheme is developed for the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) global shallow-water model. The shallow-water equations are discretized on the cubed sphere tiled with quadrilateral elements relying on a nonorthogonal curvilinear coordinate system. In the viscous shallow-water model the diffusion terms (viscous fluxes) are approximated with two different approaches: 1) the element-wise localized discretization without considering the interelement contributions and 2) the discretization based on the local discontinuous Galerkin (LDG) method. In the LDG formulation the advection–diffusion equation is solved as a first-order system. All of the curvature terms resulting from the cubed-sphere geometry are incorporated into the first-order system. The effectiveness of each diffusion scheme is studied using the standard shallow-water test cases. The approach of element-wise localized discretization of the diffusion term is easy to implement but found to be less effective, and with relatively high diffusion coefficients, it can adversely affect the solution. The shallow-water tests show that the LDG scheme converges monotonically and that the rate of convergence is dependent on the coefficient of diffusion. Also the LDG scheme successfully eliminates small-scale noise, and the simulated results are smooth and comparable to the reference solution.

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