Propagation and modulational instability of Rossby waves in stratified fluids

Abstract

Perturbation analysis and scale expansion are used to derive the (2+1)-dimensional coupled nonlinear Schrödinger (CNLS) equations that can describe interactions of two Rossby waves propagating in stratified fluids. The (2+1)-dimensional equations can reflect and describe the wave propagation more intuitively and accurately. The properties of the two waves in the process of propagation can be analyzed by the solution obtained from the equations using the Hirota bilinear method, and the influence factors of modulational instability are analyzed. The results suggest that, when two Rossby waves with slightly different wave numbers propagate in the stratified fluids, the intensity of bright soliton decreases with the increases of dark soliton coefficients. In addition, the size of modulational instable area is related to the amplitude and wave number in y direction.