Two-dimensionality of gravity water flows governed by the equatorial f-plane approximation
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Abstract
We show that gravity wave trains governed by the equatorial f-plane approximation propagate at the free surface of a rotational water flow of constant vorticity vector \((\Omega _1, \Omega _2, \Omega _3)\) over a flat bed only if the flow is two-dimensional. Owing to the presence of Coriolis effects, our result is also true even if the vorticity vector vanishes. This represents a striking difference when compared with the cases without geophysical effects discussed in Constantin (Europhys Lett 86:29001, 2009, Eur J Mech 30:12–16; 2011) and Martin (J Math Fluid Mech 2016. doi: 10.1007/s00021-016-0306-1), where the conclusion about the two-dimensionality of the flow was possible under the assumption of constant nonvanishing vorticity vector. Another upshot is that the only nonzero component of the vorticity that may not vanish is \(\Omega _2\), that is, the one pointing in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the direction of wave propagation.
Keywords
f-plane approximation Gravity wave trains VorticityMathematics Subject Classification
Primary 35Q31 35Q35 Secondary 35Q861 Introduction
There is an increased interest nowadays in the study of geophysical water flows. These are flows whose motion is influenced by the Earth’s rotation reflected through the manifestation of the Coriolis force. The thorough understanding of geophysical flows is highly dependent upon inclusion of nonlinear aspects that considerably complicate the matter to the point of eluding exact treatment; this drawback is somehow mitigated by the discovery by Gerstner [17] who presented in 1802 the only known explicit exact solution (in Lagrangian variables) for the governing equations for periodic homogeneous two-dimensional traveling gravity water waves. Gerstner solution was extended in 1932 to a heterogeneous fluid by Dubreil-Jacotin [13]; we refer the reader to Constantin [1] and Henry [18] for modern presentations of the Gerstner wave solution.
The specific general difficulties raised by the nonlinear character of equations governing the water wave propagation are enhanced by the inclusion of the before mentioned Coriolis effects; especially the complex dynamics of flows near the equatorial Pacific presents some peculiarities like a strong stratification (evidentiated by the presence of an interface, called thermocline, separating two layers of constant density), the presence strong depth-dependent underlying currents, cf. [9], with flow reversal at a depth of about 100–200 m and a wide range of other wave propagation phenomena. The softening of these intricacies becomes possible through the employment of suitable approximations of the geophysical governing equations; one of these is the f-plane approximation which is appropriate for oceanic flows within a restricted meridional range of about \(2^{\circ }\) latitude from the Equator [9, 12, 21].
The rigorous mathematical study of geophysical water flows has resulted in the appearance of a bulk of papers commencing with the modeling of wave-current interactions in the f-plane approximation for underlying currents of constant vorticity, by Constantin [4] and with the derivation of an exact solution (in the Lagrangian framework) of the nonlinear geophysical water waves in the \(\beta \)-plane near the Equator by Constantin in [5] by a suitable and substantial modification of the Gerstner wave solution to the case of three-dimensional flows. These studies were followed by papers presenting explicit exact solutions describing flows accommodating flow reversal and allowing for underlying currents in the \(\beta \)-plane setting, cf. [7, 8, 19]. An additional aspect of centrifugal forces in the \(\beta \)-plane approximation was addressed recently by Henry in [22] where an exact and explicit solution describing equatorially trapped waves was obtained.
Circumscribed to the same vein of solution flows exhibiting a prefered direction of propagation are recent works describing oceanic flows propagating in an azimuthal direction and exhibiting a complicated vertical structure [10, 11, 25]. Such geophysical flows were also analyzed from the perspective of stability/instability properties [6, 16, 20, 23, 24].
Our intention here is to show that gravity wave trains can propagate at the free surface of a rotational water flow of constant vorticity and governed by the equatorial f-plane approximation only if the flow has a two-dimensional character. From a historical perspective, the property that the flow below a wave train does not vary in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the direction of motion was validated by previous works of Constantin and Kartashova [2] proving the two-dimensionality of constant vorticity water flows below wave trains driven by capillarity and of Constantin [3] showing the two-dimensionality of constant vorticity gravity flows below wave trains; see also the works of Wahlén [30] and Stuhlmeier [29], the latter in the case of solitary waves.
2 The governing equations
We choose a rotating framework with the origin at a point on the Earth’s surface, with the x axis pointing horizontally due East, the y-axis horizontally due North, while the z-axis is oriented upward. We will consider here regular wave trains of water waves propagating steadily in the direction of the horizontal x axis, periodic (of period L) in the variable x, and exhibiting no variation in the y direction. We will, in fact, show that the lack of the y-dependence of the free surface manifests throughout the entire flow.
The fluid domain is bounded below by the impermeable flat bed \(z=-d\) and above by the free surface \(z=\eta (x-ct)\), where the function \(\eta \) gives the wave profile and \(c>0\) is the wave speed.
Remark 2.1
Throughout the paper we shall work under the assumption that \(\Omega _2+2\omega \ne 0\). This is a reasonable assumption, since \(\omega \approx 0.73\times 10^{-4}\) rad/s, while a typical value for \(\Omega _2\) in the equatorial Pacific is \(25\times 10^{-3}\,s^{-1}\), cf. [4].
After these preliminary considerations we are able to formulate the main result of the paper.
Theorem 2.2
Gravity wave trains can propagate at the free surface of a water flow over a flat bed governed by Eqs. (2.1)–(2.5) and exhibiting a constant vorticity only if the flow is two-dimensional.
Proof
The contradiction that we reached shows that \(\Omega _3=0\). In the following, we will be concerned with proving that \(\Omega _1\) also vanishes. Moreover, we will show that the pressure P and the velocity field (u, v, w) are independent of y.
Our next goal is to show that \(\Omega _1=0\) and for this purpose we assume for the sake of contradiction that \(\Omega _1\ne 0\).
Remark 2.3
Note that, due to the assumption \(\Omega _2+2\omega \ne 0\)– reasonable in the setting of equatorial waves—we can dispense of the constant nonzero vorticity requirement made in [2] in the context of capillary wave trains, in [3] for the case of gravity wave trains and in [26] regarding capillary-gravity water waves.
Notes
Acknowledgements
Open access funding provided by University of Vienna. We are thankful to the anonymous referee for many useful suggestions that considerably improved the exposition.
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