Sack Lunch Seminar (SLS)

On Formation of Multiple Zonal Jets in the Oceans










Multiple alternating zonal jets observed in the ocean are studied with an
idealized model with imposed large-scale background flow.
The jets are maintained by the mesoscale eddies with mixed
barotropic-baroclinic dynamics.
The eddies drive the jets by either Reynolds or form stresses, depending on
the direction of the background flow.
The underlying dynamical mechanism of the jet formation is illuminated with
the linear stability analysis.
The mechanism is non-local in space, and it involves interactions between
the unstable and weakly stable linear modes.