SUBJECT
Title
Physics of environmental flows
Type of instruction
lecture
Level
master
Faculty
Part of degree program
Credits
3
Recommended in
Semester 3
Typically offered in
Autumn semester
Course description
Effects of Earth’s rotation (Coriolis and centrifugal forces), Navier-Stokes equation in rotating reference frames, dimensionless form of equations, Rossby number, Froude number, dynamical pressure, geostrophic equilibrium, Taylor-Proudman theorem, linearization of the equations, wave phenomena in rotating fluids, shallow water equations, conservation of potential vorticity, effects of surface curvature, Ekman boundary layers, effects of density stratification, thermal wind, Boussinesq approximation, baroclinic instability.
Readings
required readings:
- Benoit Cushman-Roisin: Introduction to Geophysical Fluid Dynamics. Prentice Hall, 1994
recommended readings:
- Geoffrey K. Vallis: Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics: Fundamentals and Large-scale Circulation. Cambridge University Press, 2006
- Jorg Imberger: Environmental Fluid Dynamics. Academic Press, 2012