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Fluid dynamics at the margin of rotational control

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Abstract

Geophysicists have developed a perspective on the dynamical influence of Earth’s rotation, while most other areas of fluid dynamics can safely disregard rotation. In this essay the dominant turbulence and wave behaviors in the rotating and non-rotating fluid-dynamical realms are described, and particular attention is given to their borderlands, where rotational influences are significant but not dominant. Contrary to the inverse energy cascade of geostrophic turbulence toward larger scales, a forward energy cascade toward microscale dissipation develops within the borderlands from the breakdown of diagnostic force balances, frontogenesis, and frontal instabilities, and then it continues further through the small-scale non-rotating realm until it dissipates at the microscale.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1565, USA

    James C. McWilliams

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  1. James C. McWilliams
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Correspondence to James C. McWilliams.

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McWilliams, J.C. Fluid dynamics at the margin of rotational control. Environ Fluid Mech 8, 441–449 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-008-9081-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-008-9081-8

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