Experimental Study of Rossby Solitons and Dissipative Structures in Geostrophical Streams

Abstract

First experimental observations and studies of Rossby solitons have been described in [l, 2]. Rossby solitons correspond to the lowest frequency limit of generation of gravitational waves in a rotating layer of shallow water. Theory [3] predicts the following properties of this phenomenon:

• 1) The characteristic soliton diameter (Fig.l and 2a) should essentially exceed (at least 3 times) the so-called Rossby-Obukhov radius

  $${r_R} = {\left( {g * {H_O}} \right)^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 2}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 2}}}/{f_{O'}}\quad \quad \left( 1 \right)$$

  (1)

  where g* is the free fall acceleration (the centrifugal force is taken into account), HO is the depth of a shallow water layer (or equivalent height of the atmosphere), fO =2ΩOcos α the Coriolis parameter; here ΩO is the angular rotation velocity, a= (π/2)- φ where φ; is a geographical latitude.