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New equations for nearly geostrophic flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2006

Rick Salmon
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography A025, La Jolla, CA 92093

Abstract

I have used a novel approach based upon Hamiltonian mechanics to derive new equations for nearly geostrophic motion in a shallow homogeneous fluid. The equations have the same order accuracy as (say) the quasigeostrophic equations, but they allow order-one variations in the depth and Coriolis parameter. My equations exactly conserve proper analogues of the energy and potential vorticity, and they take a simple form in transformed coordinates.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1985 Cambridge University Press

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