Zonal jets in equilibrating baroclinic instability on the polar beta-plane: experiments with altimetry

TL;DR

This study uses laboratory experiments to investigate how baroclinic instability in a rotating tank with topography leads to the formation of zonal jets, providing insights relevant to Earth's atmospheric and oceanic circulation.

Contribution

It demonstrates the generation of zonal jets driven by eddy forcing in a baroclinically unstable flow with beta-effect, linking experimental results to geophysical jet phenomena.

Findings

Zonal jets are driven by eddy forcing from baroclinic perturbations.

Jets are surface intensified and vary linearly with the baroclinic radius of deformation.

The meridional wavelength of jets aligns with a modified Rhines scale.

Abstract

Results from the laboratory experiments on the evolution of baroclinically unstable flows generated in a rotating tank with topographic beta-effect are presented. We study zonal jets of alternating direction which occur in these flows. The primary system we model includes lighter fluid in the South and heavier fluid in the North with resulting slow meridional circulation and fast mean zonal motion. In a two-layer system the velocity shear between the layers results in baroclinic instability which equilibrates with time and, due to interaction with beta-effect generates zonal jets. This system is archetypal for various geophysical systems including the general circulation and jet streams in the Earths atmosphere, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current or the areas in the vicinity of western boundary currents where baroclinic instability and multiple zonal jets are observed. The gradient of the surface elevation and the thickness of the upper layer are measured in the experiments using the Altimetric Imaging Velocimetry and the Optical Thickness Velocimetry techniques respectively. Barotropic and baroclinic velocity fields are then derived from the measured quantities. The results demonstrate that the zonal jets are driven by eddy forcing due to continuously created baroclinic perturbations. The flow is baroclinic to a significant degree and the jets are surface intensified. The meridional wavelength of the jets varies linearly with the baroclinic radius of deformation and is also in a good agreement with a modified Rhines scale. This suggests a linear dependence of the perturbation velocity in the equilibrated baroclinically unstable flow on the beta-parameter.