Wave patterns generated by disturbances travelling horizontally in rotating stratified fluids

Abstract

The pattern and propagation of waves generated by steady or oscillatory disturbances travelling horizontally in a rotating, stratified fluid are studied following a technique developed by Lighthill. Both two‐ and three‐dimensional distrubances are investigated. The results show how rotation modifies internal wave patterns in a stratified fluid and how stratification modifies inertial wave patterns in a rotating fluid. The results are used to compute the effective diminution of Taylor column length due to the presence of density stratification. They also show that the appearance of wave crests upstream of a disturbance is possible only when the disturbance is unsteady and that observations of upstream blocking in a two‐dimensional stratified flow can be explained by the existence of a certain class of plane waves as modified by viscosity.