Some effects of rotation rate on planetary-scale wave flows

Abstract

A series of experiments were performed in a rotating annulus of fluid to study effects of rotation rate on planetary-scale baroclinic wave flows. The experiments reveal that change in rotation rate of fluid container causes variation in Rossby number and Taylor number in flows and leads to change in flow patterns and in phase and amplitude of quasi-stationary waves. For instance, with increasing rotation rate, amplitude of quasi-stationary waves increases and phase shifts upstream. On the contrary, with decreasing rotation rate, amplitude of quasi-stationary waves decreases and phase shifts downstream. In the case of the earth’s atmosphere, although magnitude of variation in earth’s rotation rate is very small, yet it causes a very big change in zonal velocity component of wind in the atmosphere and of currents in the ocean, and therefore causes a remarkable change in Rossby number and Taylor number determining regimes in planetary-scale geophysical flows. The observation reveals that intensity and geographic location of subtropic anticyclones in both of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres change consistently with the variation in earth’s rotation rate. The results of fluid experiments are consistent, qualitatively, with observed phenomena in the atmospheric circulation.