Discontinuous solutions of the shallow water equations on a rotatable attracting sphere

Abstract

The shallow water equations on a rotatable attracting sphere represent a system of hyperbolic equations on a compact manifold. These equations are derived in a spherical coordinate system from the integral laws of mass and total momentum conservation with account for the Coriolis and centrifugal forces. An analysis of the stability of discontinuous solutions with discontinuous waves and contact discontinuities is made using the closing law of total energy conservation, which represents a convex extension of the basic conservation-law system. The classes of stationary, one-dimensional (latitude-dependent only) exact solutions with contact discontinuities and discontinuous waves are constructed. Within the framework of the one-dimensional equations the test problem of wave flows resulting from the simultaneous break of two dams confining a fluid at rest in the vicinities of the poles is numerically modeled.