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On inertial waves in a rotating fluid sphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2001

KEKE ZHANG
Affiliation:
School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
PAUL EARNSHAW
Affiliation:
School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK
XINHAO LIAO
Affiliation:
Shanghai Observatory, Shanghai 200030, China
F. H. BUSSE
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany

Abstract

Several new results are obtained for the classical problem of inertial waves in a rotating fluid sphere which was formulated by Poincaré more than a century ago. Explicit general analytical expressions for solutions of the problem are found in a rotating sphere for the first time. It is also discovered that there exists a special class of three-dimensional inertial waves that are nearly geostrophic and always travel slowly in the prograde direction. On the basis of the explicit general expression we are able to show that the internal viscous dissipation of all the inertial waves vanishes identically for a rotating fluid sphere. The result contrasts with the finite values obtained for the internal viscous dissipation for all other cases in which inertial waves have been studied.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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