Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: : The structure of boundary currents formed from intermediately dense water introduced into a rotating, stably stratified, two‐layer environment is investigated in a series of laboratory experiments, performed for Froude numbers ranging from 0.01 to 1. The thickness and streamwise velocity profiles in quasi‐steady currents are measured and found to agree with analytic solutions and numerical models. A sloping boundary in a stratified background results in robust stability at all experimental Froude numbers. Such stability is in sharp contrast to the rapid breakup into eddies of such a current flowing against a vertical boundary, or of a current flowing along a slope in a uniform background. The possibility of wave radiation supported by a variety of wave mechanisms found in the ambient fluid might account for the observed stability.
Authors: P. A. YECKO, S. P. MEACHAM
Institutions: University of Florida, Florida State University
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2063047075