Doppler-shifted inertial oscillations on a β plane

X. Zhai, R.J. Greatbatch, J. Sheng

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12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

On the spherical earth, and in the absence of a background flow, the poleward propagation of near-inertial oscillations is restricted by the turning latitude. A background flow, on the other hand, provides a way to increase the apparent frequency of near-inertial waves through Doppler shifting. In this note, it is shown that near-inertial oscillations can be advected to latitudes higher than their turning latitude. Associated with the poleward advection there is a squeezing of the meridional wavelength. A numerical model is used to verify this result. The squeezed inertial oscillations are vulnerable to nonlinear interactions, which could eventually lead to small-scale dissipation and mixing.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1480-1488
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Physical Oceanography
Volume35
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2005

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