Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-and-the-environment-and-mathematical-physiology-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2010/a/3/ii/solution

Measure pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. At leading order the stress-free upper surface gives , . Integrating the normal balance first yields
At fixed , . Therefore , independent of . Integrating from to gives
This is linear in , is zero at the surface, and reaches its basal value at . In particular the surface slope modifies the shear driving; a flat upper surface relative to the horizontal eliminates it in this approximation.

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