# Nonlinear theory of magnetohydrodynamic flows of stratified rotating plasma in two-layer shallow water approximation. Rossby waves and their three-wave interactions

## TL;DR

This paper develops a nonlinear theory for stratified rotating plasma flows in a magnetic field, revealing magneto-Rossby wave interactions and parametric instabilities in a two-layer shallow water model.

## Contribution

It introduces a two-layer shallow water approximation for stratified plasma in a magnetic field and analyzes three-wave interactions of magneto-Rossby waves.

## Key findings

- Identification of magneto-Rossby wave solutions in stratified plasma.
- Discovery of three-wave nonlinear interactions among these waves.
- Demonstration of parametric instabilities and their growth rates.

## Abstract

This article deals with rotating magnetohydrodynamic flows of a thin stratified layer of astrophysical plasma in a gravitational field with a free-surface in a vertical external magnetic field. Magnetohydrodynamic equations are obtained in the two-layer shallow water approximation in an external magnetic field when plasma is divided into two layers of different densities. In the beta-plane approximation a system of shallow water equations for rotating stratified plasma in an external magnetic field is obtained. For stationary initial conditions in the form of vertical or horizontal magnetic field a linear theory has been developed and solutions have been found in the form of magneto-Rossby waves with modifications to them describing the effects of stratification. A qualitative analysis of the dispersion curves shows the presence of three-wave nonlinear interactions of magneto-Rossby waves for each of the stationary solutions. The appearance of parametric instabilities is shown and their increments are found.