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Baroclinic instability converts potential energy of a stratified sheared basic flow into growing disturbances. In the Eady model, coupled Boundary Rossby waves provide a useful mechanism: their induced velocities displace boundary buoyancy anomalies, and suitable wavelengths permit phase locking. A single neutral boundary wave does not by itself imply exponential instability.

The spatial gradient of buoyancy determines the buoyancy anomaly produced by a small parcel displacement: $b^{\prime }=-\mathbf{\xi }\cdot \nabla \bar{b}$. Its vertical component is the squared buoyancy frequency in a stably stratified Boussinesq approximation. A horizontal component enters thermal wind and the propagation of a Boundary Rossby wave.

A gently sloping lower boundary modifies the lower Boundary Rossby wave of the Eady model, while a horizontal upper boundary retains the usual upper wave. With $M=N|k|D/|f_0|$, $a=\alpha N^2/(f_0\Lambda )$ and $C=c/(\Lambda D)$, the two-boundary dispersion relation isFor $a>1$ both speeds are real for every nonzero wavenumber. For every $a<1$ there is a band of exponentially growing modes; this includes negative slopes. The case $a=1$ has no exponential instability but can have a defective neutral mode at the crossing of the two uncoupled speeds.

A Rossby wave is a displacement of a materially conserved potential vorticity distribution whose induced balanced velocity propagates that displacement. In a quasi-geostrophic approximation interior, take a locally uniform zonal current $U$ and meridional background PV gradient $B={\overline{Q}}_y$. A small meridional parcel displacement $\eta$ produces $q^{\prime }=-B\eta$. The linear potential-vorticity equation isFor a shallow-water vertical mode, potential-vorticity inversion is $q^{\prime }=({\nabla }_H^2-L_D^{-2}){\psi }^{\prime }$ and $v^{\prime }={\psi }_x^{\prime }$. Substitution of $e^{i(kx+ly-\omega t)}$ givesThe same structure holds for other vertical modes, with their own deformation lengths, and for barotropic waves with $L_D^{-1}=0$. A topographic or shear-induced PV gradient can replace the planetary one: locally $B=\beta -U^{\prime \prime }$ in a barotropic zonal current, with the corresponding bottom contribution when present.

The restoring process can be seen directly by choosing $\eta ={\eta }_0\cos (kx-\omega t)$ in one horizontal dimension with no mean flow. Then $q^{\prime }=-B\eta$ and ${\psi }^{\prime }=B\eta /(k^2+L_D^{-2})$. The resulting $v^{\prime }={\psi }_x^{\prime }$ is a quarter wavelength out of phase with the displacement and requires $\omega =-Bk/(k^2+L_D^{-2})$. A PV anomaly is therefore not merely carried passively: its nonlocal balanced velocity moves the displaced contours.

For $B>0$, the intrinsic zonal phase velocity isChanging the sign of $k$ gives the conjugate representation of the same real pattern, not an eastward intrinsic phase branch. More generally the intrinsic phase-velocity vector has nonpositive zonal component $-B{k}^2/[|\mathbf{k}{|}^2(k^2+l^2+L_D^{-2})]$. This one-way phase property contrasts with acoustic and internal gravity waves, whose frequency equations have two independent propagation branches. The direction reverses when the relevant PV gradient reverses; a sufficiently strong current can make the laboratory phase move eastward. Thus one-way refers to propagation relative to the mean flow and a specified gradient, not an absolute geographic direction in every problem.

Scale dependence is supplied by potential-vorticity inversion. At short horizontal scales, a fixed PV anomaly creates ${\psi }^{\prime }\sim q^{\prime }/|\mathbf{k}{|}^2$, so the intrinsic phase speed is small, of order $B/|\mathbf{k}{|}^2$. At long scales with finite $L_D$, it approaches $-B{L}_D^2$. The group velocity need not have the phase direction:In particular, short nearly zonal waves can carry a packet eastward relative to the current while their crests move westward. A group-velocity statement requires a slowly varying, propagating packet and a smooth dispersion branch; turning regions and critical levels require further analysis.

Interior PV gradients are not the only support. In a stratified quasi-geostrophic approximation fluid the inversion operator includes ${\partial }_z[(f^2/N^2){\psi }_z^{\prime }]$. The boundary buoyancy $b^{\prime }=f{\psi }_z^{\prime }$ also supplies inversion data. A meridional boundary-buoyancy gradient is equivalent, in the inversion problem, to a boundary PV sheet. Consequently Boundary Rossby waves can exist even if the interior PV gradient vanishes. Their perturbations decay away from the boundary over a horizontal-wavenumber-dependent Rossby height; opposite boundaries can support oppositely directed intrinsic waves because their effective sheet gradients have opposite signs.

The Eady model makes this concrete. For $U=\Lambda z$, constant $N$ and horizontal wave-vector magnitude $k_h$, put $K=N{k}_h/|f|$. Zero interior PV gives ${\psi }_{zz}^{\prime }-K^2{\psi }^{\prime }=0$, and each rigid boundary has the buoyancy conditionA lower isolated boundary has ${\psi }^{\prime }\propto e^{-Kz}$, so $c_{\mathrm{lower}}=U(0)+\Lambda /K$. An upper isolated boundary has ${\psi }^{\prime }\propto e^{K(z-H)}$, so $c_{\mathrm{upper}}=U(H)-\Lambda /K$. For positive shear, the lower wave is intrinsically eastward and the upper wave intrinsically westward, entirely consistently with their opposite effective PV gradients.

In the finite-depth Eady dispersion relation, $\gamma =KH/2$. For $\gamma \gg 1$, $\tanh \gamma$ and $\coth \gamma$ both tend to one. The square root therefore tends to $\gamma -1$, givingThese are the two uncoupled Eady edge waves, not a pair of opposite branches on a single boundary. Their overlap is exponentially small in $KH$. For smaller separation, the interaction can phase-lock the counterpropagating boundary waves; the square root becomes imaginary for $0<KH<2.399\dots$, yielding Eady instability. The short-wave limit is stable and illustrates why interior-PV-only reasoning misses boundary wave propagation and baroclinic instability.

The governing balance requires a small Rossby number, weak fractional height or density perturbations, stable stratification where relevant, and frequencies slow relative to $|f|$. The local gradient must change little across a wavelength; on a planetary beta-plane $\beta \ell /|f|\ll 1$ is the associated small parameter. A hydrostatic stratified example also requires a small vertical-to-horizontal aspect ratio and $N$ large compared with its slow frequency. For reference, midlatitude $|f|\sim 10^{-4}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ and $\beta \sim 2\times 10^{-11}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. Atmospheric deformation lengths of order $10^6\mathrm{m}$ give long-wave speeds of order $\beta L_D^2\sim 20{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ and synoptic-to-planetary times of days to weeks. An oceanic baroclinic deformation length of order $3\times 10^4\mathrm{m}$ instead gives about $0.02{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ and much longer basin-crossing times. Structural constants and background advection matter; these are scale estimates, not universal measured speeds.

Finite-amplitude Rossby waves can overturn or strongly filament PV contours, especially near a critical layer where their phase speed approaches the local current. Smooth inviscid motion still conserves each parcel's PV. Apparent mixing comes from the resulting fine structure under coarse-graining or from weak diffusion; it can flatten a coarse-grained background PV gradient and sharpen neighboring jet-edge gradients. A simplest description of Rossby-wave PV mixing and zonal momentum is a downgradient fluxFor barotropic zonal averages with zero mean meridional transport, $u^{\prime }=-{\psi }_y^{\prime }$, $v^{\prime }={\psi }_x^{\prime }$ and $q^{\prime }={\nabla }_H^2{\psi }^{\prime }$. Zonal integration by parts gives the Taylor identity for quasi-geostrophic fluxThus mixing down a positive PV gradient produces westward acceleration in the mixing region: wave-generated Reynolds stress redistributes zonal momentum. The inversion relation ${\overline{Q}}_y=\beta -{\overline{U}}^{\prime \prime }$ then relates PV homogenization to a reshaped current. Total zonal momentum cannot simply disappear in an isolated domain; integrated stress convergence is a boundary flux, so compensating momentum changes or boundary forcing must accompany localized drag.

In small conservative waves with $B>0$, the quadratic wave activity is $\mathcal{A}=\overline{q^{\prime 2}}/(2B)$. Multiplying the linear PV equation by $q^{\prime }/B$ gives ${\mathcal{A}}_t=-\overline{v^{\prime }{q}^{\prime }}$ for a zonal average on a locally uniform current. Together with the momentum equation this yields ${\partial }_t(\overline{U}+\mathcal{A})=0$ during conservative growth or decay. In a commonly used momentum convention the Rossby-wave pseudomomentum is $-\mathcal{A}$; signs must be stated rather than inferred from the word activity. Breaking and absorption invalidate the reversible small-wave description and deposit the wave's momentum through its flux convergence. A steady undamped conservative wave cannot provide sustained local drag without a flux divergence or boundary exchange, as expressed by the non-acceleration theorem for quasi-geostrophic waves.

Rossby propagation is the slow, direction-selective motion produced by PV advection coupled to balanced inversion. Interior gradients and boundary sheets share that mechanism; inversion determines the scale dependence, while wave packets, boundary-wave interaction and breaking govern how energy and momentum reach other regions.

For an exponentially growing normal mode with $k\ne 0$, $\mathrm{Im}(kc)>0$. Such a complex $c$ cannot equal the real basic velocity anywhere, so the interior equation forces $\hat{q}=0$ at every height. Decay then fixes the unique vertical structure $C{e}^{-mz}$, and the lower-boundary condition fixes $c=-S/m$, which is real. This contradiction proves the absence of exponential instability in the semi-infinite Eady model:For $k=0$, there is no advective frequency in the linear interior equation, so an exponentially growing mode would again have $q^{\prime }=0$. The wall buoyancy equation then forces ${\psi }_z^{\prime }(0)=0$, which the nonzero decaying exponential cannot satisfy. Thus these modes do not provide a missing growing branch. This conclusion rules out exponential eigenmode growth, not every possible transient response or singular neutral potential vorticity disturbance.

With a second rigid boundary at $z=D$, the same uniform-shear flow is the Eady model. Both boundaries carry buoyancy perturbations and support Boundary Rossby waves. Their intrinsic propagation directions oppose one another relative to their respective local basic flows. At suitable wavelengths their interacting fields can phase-lock and release basic-state potential energy, producing baroclinic instability. The single-boundary system lacks that second interacting boundary wave.

For a direct comparison, write $\Lambda ={\bar{U}}_z=-S$ and $m=NK/|f_0|$. The vertical solution between the two boundaries is $A\cosh (mz)+B\sinh (mz)$, and their buoyancy conditions areEliminating $A,B$ gives the finite-depth Eady dispersion relationThe bracket is negative for $0<mD<2.399\dots$, so those modes with $k\ne 0$ have a growing and a decaying member. At short wavelengths the two edge waves interact weakly and the frequencies are real. In the semi-infinite limit, the lower-wave root tends to $c=\Lambda /m=-S/m$, recovering the neutral result above.

In an adiabatic quasi-geostrophic approximation, hydrostatic approximation and geostrophic balance give $b^{\prime }=f_0{\psi }_z$. The leading buoyancy equation is $D_g{b}^{\prime }+N^{2}w=0$; hence $w=-D_g(f_0{\psi }_z/N^2)$. At the rigid surface $z=\alpha y$, the no-normal-flow condition is $D_g(z-\alpha y)=0$, so $w=\alpha v_g=\alpha {\psi }_x$. The small boundary slope allows the disturbance condition to be evaluated at the flattened boundary $z=0$ to the retained order.

For thermal wind $U=\Lambda z$, choose the basic quasi-geostrophic streamfunction $\overline{\psi }=-\Lambda zy$. Its buoyancy anomaly is $\overline{b}=-f_0\Lambda y$, and its interior quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity is constant. Therefore the linear disturbance equations areThe term $-\Lambda {\psi }_x^{\prime }$ is the advection of the basic meridional buoyancy gradient. Since $q^{\prime }$ is simply advected at each fixed height, $q^{\prime }=0$ initially implies $q^{\prime }=0$ forever. At the lower boundary define $a=\alpha N^2/f_0$; thenThe PDF uses $\alpha$ for the lower-boundary slope throughout; the TeX's isolated $z=cy$ is a transcription error.

For nonzero zonal wavenumber let $\mu =N|k|/|f_0|>0$. The zero-interior-potential vorticity condition gives ${\hat{\psi }}_{zz}-{\mu }^2\hat{\psi }=0$. In the semi-infinite domain choose decay as $z\to \infty$. Writing $B_0(t)={\hat{\psi }}_z(0,t)$, potential-vorticity inversion then givesThis sloping-boundary Eady edge wave has all its time dependence in the boundary buoyancy equation; the interior responds instantaneously through elliptic potential-vorticity inversion. A single boundary wave oscillates without exponential growth. Vertical shear and topography contribute oppositely to its propagation. The contributions cancel when $\alpha =f_0\Lambda /N^2$, the slope of a background isopycnal. For $f_0>0$, positive $\Lambda$ without slope gives eastward propagation, while a positive slope without shear gives westward propagation. The phase velocity varies as $1/|k|$, and the trapping depth is $1/\mu$. Its frequency is independent of $|k|$ on each signed branch, so its zonal group velocity is zero in this ideal semi-infinite model.

With a rigid horizontal upper boundary, put $B_D(t)={\hat{\psi }}_z(D,t)$ and $M=\mu D$. Solving the same second-order inversion problem with both derivative data givesDifferentiation at $0$ and $D$ checks the prescribed values. At the upper boundary $w^{\prime }=0$, so $({\partial }_t+ik\Lambda D)B_D=ik\Lambda \hat{\psi }(D)$. Combining this with the lower-boundary condition givesThus two Boundary Rossby waves interact across the layer. For normal modes proportional to $e^{-ikct}$ their dimensional wave-speed matrix isFor $\Lambda \ne 0$, define $C=c/(\Lambda D)$ and $\tilde{\alpha }=a/\Lambda$. Its characteristic polynomial is the Eady model with a sloping lower boundary dispersion relationThe source writes $\tilde{\mu }=NkD/f_0$; for $k,f_0>0$ this is $M$, and the dispersion relation is unchanged by replacing that signed quantity by its absolute value. Its two roots areIf $\tilde{\alpha }>1$, the second term is positive, so $\Delta >0$ for every $M>0$: all modes are spectrally stable. If $\tilde{\alpha }<1$, the increasing function $M\tanh M$ runs from zero to infinity, so there is a unique $M$ withThere the squared term is zero and $\Delta <0$, giving an exponentially growing member of the complex conjugate pair. By continuity it lies in an unstable band. This proves both the requested instability for $0\le \tilde{\alpha }<1$ and instability for negative slopes in the sloping-boundary Eady model. It does not assert that every wavelength is unstable. Strongly negative slopes move the resonant band to large $M$, where the coupling is exponentially weak.

At $\tilde{\alpha }=1$ the speeds are real, but their crossing at $M=\coth M$ can give a defective neutral mode and algebraic growth; absence of exponential instability is weaker than boundedness of every initial disturbance. The nondimensional slope is undefined when $\Lambda =0$; the dimensional matrix remains valid and then has two real speeds. The instability for $\tilde{\alpha }<1$ is the counterpropagating wave instability mechanism: lower and upper boundary waves can match their laboratory phase speeds and exchange energy with the vertical shear.

For $ϵ=0$, the quantity under the square root is real:It is negative for small $\mu$ and positive for large $\mu$. Therefore the Eady instability occurs for $\mu <{\mu }_c$, whereand modes are neutral for $\mu >{\mu }_c$.

For $\mu \gg 1$, $\coth \mu =1+O(e^{-2\mu })$ and $\mathrm{csch}\mu$ is exponentially small. HenceThese are two decoupled Boundary Rossby waves, one localized near each boundary. Their laboratory phase speeds lie just inside the basic velocities $\Lambda H$ and $0$ because each propagates intrinsically against the local flow.