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Keep the prescribed outer slip velocity fixed when perturbing the unsteady Prandtl equation. Cancelling the base equation and retaining terms linear in the disturbance gives the linearized unsteady Prandtl equationThe no-slip boundary condition supplies $\tilde{u}=\tilde{v}=0$ at the wall; the fixed outer velocity supplies $\tilde{u}\to 0$ at infinity. There is no prescribed zero normal-velocity disturbance at infinity: a finite displacement-related value is permitted.

With the frozen parallel profile $U=U(y)$, $V=0$, the coefficients are invariant under translations in $x$ and $t$. Normal modes therefore separate those variables. For the mode convention used here the equations areEliminate $u=-v^{\prime }/(i\alpha )$ to obtain the Prandtl normal-mode equationwith a bounded far-field $v$. Requiring $v(\infty )=0$ would incorrectly eliminate the proposed outer profile. For real $U$ and real $\alpha$, complex conjugation of the equation and its boundary conditions replaces $(\alpha ,c,v)$ by $(-\alpha ,c^{\ast },v^{\ast })$. This proves the stated eigenvalue symmetry. The paired modes have the same temporal growth rate $\alpha \mathrm{Im}c$, so choosing positive wavenumber loses no real physical disturbance.

Here the prescribed parallel profile is a local frozen-coefficient model. A nontrivial arbitrary $U(y)$ with $V=0$ and constant outer slip is not generally an exact steady solution of the unforced unsteady Prandtl equation; its base equation would require $U^{\prime \prime }=0$. The following stability calculation uses the simplifying local model stipulated for the mode analysis.

Set $c_0=U_c=U(y_c)$. Away from the critical point the dominant equation is $(U-c_0)v_0^{\prime }-U^{\prime }{v}_0=0$, whose solutions are multiples of $U-c_0$. Choosing the coefficient to be zero below $y_c$ and one above it satisfies the wall and tangential far-field conditions. The choice $c_0=U_c$ makes $v_0$ continuous across the joining point; $U^{\prime }(y_c)=0$ also makes its first derivative continuous. Its second derivative jumps. Thus it is a valid leading outer solution away from $y_c$, but viscosity must smooth the join in a critical layer in a shear flow.

Near the join, $U-c_0\sim (y-y_c{)}^2/2$. If the layer width is $\ell$, matching gives $v=O({\ell }^2)$. The advection side of the mode equation scales as $\alpha {\ell }^3$ and $v^{\prime \prime \prime }$ scales as ${\ell }^{-1}$. Balance gives ${\ell }^4\sim {\alpha }^{-1}=\epsilon /k$. Equivalently, the eigenvalue correction ${\epsilon }^{1/2}{c}_1$ balances $(y-y_c{)}^2$, so the quarter-power critical layer hasSubstitution, retaining the leading terms and cancelling their common factor, gives

At order ${\epsilon }^{1/2}$ outside the layer,A solution consistent with the chosen lower branch and the wall conditions is $v_1=0$ below the join. Above it a particular solution is $v_1=-c_1$; a multiple of $U-c_0$ represents an arbitrary amplitude renormalization and may be set to zero. Matching consequently requiresThe corresponding derivatives match as $w_Y\sim Y$, $w_{YY}\to 1$ on the positive side and as zero on the negative side. The matching statements require that growing homogeneous corrections be absent.

To symmetrize these different end conditions and remove $k$ and $i$, chooseThe polynomial $A(z)=z^2/2-C$ is itself a solution of the transformed homogeneous equation. Direct substitution, using $a^4=ik$, givesThe derivative is third order, as required by the original mode equation. Initially the two ends are along the rotated rays $z=aY$ with real $Y$. Continuing them to the real $z$ axis is compatible with the asymptotic end conditions: the decreasing homogeneous correction behaves exponentially as $\exp [-z^2/(2\sqrt{2})]$ and still decreases throughout the rotation from angle $\pi /8$ to zero. Thus the supplied real-axis spectral normalization uses the same recessive conditions; a complex coordinate change should not be mistaken for a real stretching alone.

For each supplied real eigenvalue $C_n=(4n+7)/\sqrt{2}$, the phase-speed correction isThe mode factor has temporal magnitude $e^{\alpha \mathrm{Im}ct}$. ThereforeAmong the listed indices, $n=-2$ gives positive growth $\gamma \sim \sqrt{\alpha }/2$; $n=-1,1,2,\dots$ give decay. Hence the frozen non-monotone flow has high-wavenumber instability of a non-monotone Prandtl layer, with arbitrarily rapid linear growth as the positive wavenumber increases. The normal-mode calculation demonstrates linear instability; it is not by itself a claim about the final nonlinear state.

A direct elimination of pressure gives the same result as taking a double curl of the momentum equation. Incompressibility gives ${\nabla }^{2}p=\mathrm{Ra}\mathrm{Pr}{\partial }_z\theta$. Apply ${\nabla }^2$ to the vertical momentum equation and subtract this pressure derivative to obtainHere ${\nabla }_h^2={\partial }_x^2+{\partial }_y^2$ is the horizontal Laplacian. At $z=0,1$, impermeability gives $w=0$ and fixed temperature gives $\theta =0$. The stress-free boundary condition gives ${\partial }_{z}u={\partial }_{z}v=0$, since horizontal derivatives of the boundary value $w=0$ vanish. Differentiating incompressibility once in $z$ therefore givesFor a horizontal Fourier mode $X=e^{i(k_{x}x+k_{y}y)}$, ${\nabla }_h^{2}X=-{\lambda }^{2}X$ with real $\lambda =\sqrt{k_x^2+k_y^2}$. More generally the nonnegative spectrum of $-{\nabla }_h^2$ follows by integration by parts for periodic or square-integrable horizontal disturbances. Substituting the separated normal mode gives, with $D=d/dz$,The boundary conditions admit a complete Fourier sine series in $z$. For a nonzero horizontal wavenumber, take $W=W_n\sin (n\pi z)$, $\Theta ={\Theta }_n\sin (n\pi z)$, and set $a_n^2={\lambda }^2+n^2{\pi }^2$. The two amplitude equations areThus the stress-free convection growth-rate polynomial isIts discriminant is $(\mathrm{Pr}-1{)}^2{a}_n^4+4\mathrm{Ra}\mathrm{Pr}{\lambda }^2/a_n^2$, so both growth rates are real for $\mathrm{Ra}>0$. For $\mathrm{Ra}<0$, its two coefficients after the leading term are positive: their sum gives ${\sigma }_1+{\sigma }_2=-(1+\mathrm{Pr})a_n^2<0$, and their product is $\mathrm{Pr}(a_n^4-\mathrm{Ra}{\lambda }^2/a_n^2)>0$. Real roots are both negative; nonreal roots have real part $-(1+\mathrm{Pr})a_n^2/2<0$. Hence stable heating from above damps every mode. Horizontally uniform thermal modes and uncoupled horizontal viscous modes are also purely damped; impermeability and incompressibility exclude a horizontally uniform nonzero $w$.

Because the unstable-side roots are real, the onset is stationary, an exchange of stabilities in stress-free convection. Setting $\sigma =0$ gives the free-slip convection neutral curveWith $x={\lambda }^2$, its derivative has the sign of $2x-n^2{\pi }^2$. Its minimum is at $x=n^2{\pi }^2/2$, with value $27n^4{\pi }^4/4$. Minimizing also over $n\ge 1$ gives the critical values

The odd-potential branch uses $s=\tanh (kL)$, whereas the even-potential branch uses $1/s$. The imaginary parts are identical becauseConsequently the equality of top-hat jet parity growth rates givesHere $\gamma =k{c}_i$ is the positive temporal growth rate. The real phase velocities differ: $c_{r,\mathrm{odd}}=\frac{V}{2}(1-e^{-2kL})$ and $c_{r,\mathrm{even}}=\frac{V}{2}(1+e^{-2kL})$. Thus equal amplification does not imply equal propagation. As $kL\to \infty$, both approach the isolated-vortex sheet phase velocity $V/2$ and growth rate $k|V|/2$.

For a single equal-density vortex sheet with stream speeds $0$ and $V$, the gravitational contribution vanishes. The Kelvin-Helmholtz dispersion relation with gravity reduces to $c^2+(V-c{)}^2=0$, with roots $c=V/2\pm i|V|/2$. Its positive temporal growth rate is ${\gamma }_{\mathrm{sheet}}=k|V|/2$.

Both jet parity branches have the common growth rate derived above, henceEquivalently, $2\sqrt{s}\le 1+s$ follows from $(\sqrt{s}-1{)}^2\ge 0$. Equality is approached when the two interfaces are separated by many disturbance decay lengths, $kL\to \infty$. The zero-shear case has both growth rates zero. For small $kL$, the growth rate ratio is approximately $2\sqrt{kL}$: interaction between the sheets suppresses amplification relative to an isolated sheet.

At the absolute wavenumber, the group velocity $d\omega /dk$ is zero. The corresponding accessible saddle therefore governs the disturbance seen at a fixed position. Its exponential growth rate isSaddle accessibility can be checked directly here. With $D=1+i{c}_d$, whose real part is positive, Fourier inversion gives the Green function of the linear complex Ginzburg-Landau equation,At fixed $x$ its exponential rate is $\mathrm{Im}{\omega }_0$, while along the packet centre $x=Ut$ it is $\mu$. For real wavenumbers of Fourier modes, the temporal growth rate is $\mathrm{Im}\omega (k)=\mu -k^2$, so the flow is temporally unstable exactly when $\mu >0$.

Consequently the classifications for a localized disturbance in this laboratory frame areFor convective hydrodynamic instability, a travelling wave packet amplifies but the response at each fixed position decays. For absolute hydrodynamic instability, that fixed-position response amplifies. The equality is the marginal absolute threshold: its exponential rate is zero and the impulse response has a $t^{-1/2}$ prefactor. For $\mu <0$ there is no temporal growth; $\mu =0$ is temporally marginal. When $U=0$ the convective window is empty. These conclusions use the infinite-line impulse problem; a general dispersion relation requires its own spatial-branch or saddle selection.

Take $z$ upwards and write $\zeta =z+Wt$, so that the unperturbed interface is $\zeta =0$, with carbon dioxide above and water below. Use the sharp-interface, incompressible flow version of Darcy's law, with constant porosity and permeability of a porous medium, no capillary pressure, and effectively unbounded layers. The distinction between Darcy flux and interface speed matters: the base flux is $q_z=-\varphi W$, since the printed $W$ is the speed of the interface. Thus the base pressure gradients satisfyThe mass density ordering is stabilizing, whereas injection of the less viscous fluid into the more viscous fluid produces the Saffman–Taylor instability.

For linear stability analysis, displace the interface by $\eta =\hat{\eta }{e}^{\sigma t+i\alpha x}$. Taking the divergence of Darcy's law shows that the perturbation pressure satisfies the Laplace equation. Decay away from the interface gives, for $a_{\alpha }=|\alpha |>0$,The kinematic boundary condition and continuity of normal Darcy flux giveMeanwhile pressure continuity, evaluated on the displaced interface, givesEliminating $A,B$ yields the buoyancy-modified Darcy fingering dispersion relation:Every nonzero wavenumber decays when $W<W_c$, grows when $W>W_c$, and is neutral at equality, whereThe zero wavenumber is a uniform displacement and is neutral. Without a short-scale regularization such as surface tension, this model has no fastest-growing finite wavenumber: on the unstable side its growth rate increases without bound as $|\alpha |$ increases. Finite layer depths would change the dispersion relation; none are specified here.

Taking $g=9.81\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$ and a year of $365.25$ days, the data giveThe numerical paragraph supplies no porosity, so it cannot determine a unique numerical interface speed. If $W$ were instead intended to mean Darcy velocity, the numerical critical value would be $103.2\mathrm{m}\mathrm{y}{\mathrm{r}}^{-1}$, and the interface would move at $W/\varphi$. These two velocity conventions must not be conflated.

The stationary-point condition for the squared growth rate is $A-3\gamma k_m^2=0$. Its second derivative is $-6\gamma k_m/({\rho }_1+{\rho }_2)<0$, so

For the growing normal mode in two deep layers,It vanishes at the endpoints of the unstable band and has its unique interior maximum where $A-3\gamma k^2=0$. Using $k_c=\sqrt{A/\gamma }$ givesThis is the maximum exponential growth rate, not the real oscillation frequency.