Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2026 / iii / Paper 333 (Fluid Dynamics of Climate)

The horizontal velocities $u$ and $v$ point east and north, $\eta$ is the displacement of the free surface from its mean level, $H_0$ is the undisturbed depth, $g$ is gravitational acceleration, and $f$ is the constant Coriolis parameter on an f-plane. The three linearized shallow water equations are horizontal momentum balance and mass conservation:They follow from the rotating Navier-Stokes equation by assuming an inviscid homogeneous layer, hydrostatic pressure, horizontal scales much larger than $H_0$, depth-independent horizontal velocity, a flat impermeable bottom, constant $f$, and small surface displacement and velocity so that nonlinear products are neglected.

In a steady state, geostrophic balance givesThe relative vorticity is $\zeta =v_x-u_y$. Expanding the shallow-water potential vorticity $(f+\zeta )/(H_0+\eta )$ to first order givesThus one convenient normalization of its disturbance isTaking the curl of momentum and using continuity shows $q_t=0$.

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Initially $\zeta =0$, so conservation of the linear potential vorticity givesThe final flow is in geostrophic balance, henceConsequently the adjusted height solves the modified Helmholtz equationwhere $L_R$ is the Rossby deformation radius.

The initial condition is independent of $x$ and odd in $y$. The bounded solution that is continuously differentiable at $y=0$ isIt givesDuring geostrophic adjustment, the part of the initial energy incompatible with the conserved potential-vorticity distribution radiates away as inertia-gravity waves. The remaining current has width $O(L_R)$ and is geostrophically balanced.

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Set $c=\sqrt{g{H}_0}$ and seekThe two remaining prognostic equations implyThe $x$ momentum equation is now geostrophic:ThereforeBoundedness for $x>0$ selects $\gamma =\mathrm{sgn}(f)c$ andBecause $F$ depends on $y+\gamma t$, the wave travels with meridional phase speed $-\gamma$. Along this western boundary it travels southward in the Northern Hemisphere and northward in the Southern Hemisphere, keeping the coast on the dynamically required side. This is a coastal Kelvin wave.

Moreover,Since $u=0$, its linear potential-vorticity disturbance is

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Potential-vorticity conservation still determines the final surface throughThe unbounded problem only required decay or matching as $|y|$ and $x$ become large. The coast adds a boundary condition. In the adjusted geostrophic flow,so $\eta$ must be constant along the connected wall. Odd symmetry and the arbitrary common height datum set that constant to zero:This is a Dirichlet condition on $\eta$, even though it originated as no normal flow.

The initial disturbance does not instantaneously know this along the whole coast. A southward coastal Kelvin wave for $f>0$ carries the pressure signal and establishes the constant wall height behind its wavefront. In the final streamline sketch, the quasi-geostrophic streamfunction is proportional to ${\eta }_f$. Far from the wall the contours and current resemble the unbounded east--west front; near $x=0$ those contours bend through a right angle and run along the coast, so the incident geostrophic current turns into a southward boundary current instead of crossing the wall.

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Assume a steady, small-Rossby-number interior in which drag is negligible and the nonlinear advection of relative vorticity,is small compared with advection of planetary vorticity. The stretching term proportional to $\psi$ has zero Jacobian with $\psi$. On the beta plane,Hence the forced quasi-geostrophic equation reduces to Sverdrup balanceFor the zonal wind stress $\mathbf{\tau }=\tau (y)\hat{\mathbf{x}}$,so

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The eastern wall has no normal flow, so the quasi-geostrophic streamfunction is constant there. Choose $\psi (L,y)=0$. Integrating the Sverdrup relation givesSince geostrophic balance gives $\psi =g\eta /f_0$,If this interior solution were extended to both walls, the west-minus-east height difference would be

The northward volume transport per unit meridional distance isThusThis is the basin-integrated form of Sverdrup balance.

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In a narrow western layer, $x$ derivatives dominate $y$ derivatives. Subtracting the forced interior balance leavesIf the layer has width $\delta$, then ${\psi }_x=O(\psi /\delta )$ and ${\psi }_{xx}=O(\psi /{\delta }^2)$. Balancing the beta effect with linear bottom drag givesand therefore the Stommel boundary layer width isThis scaling assumes $\delta \ll L$ and that along-boundary variations occur on the basin scale.

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No normal flow makes $\psi$ constant on the connected basin boundary; set that constant to zero. PutThe interior solution is $A(L-x)$. The decaying boundary correction that enforces $\psi (0,y)=0$ isThus, to leading order in $\delta /L$,

If $\delta$ denotes the e-folding width literally, thenSince a boundary-layer width is only defined up to an order-one factor, matching at any point satisfying $\delta \ll x\ll L$ gives the convention-independent leading jumpIt is the height difference needed to return the broad Sverdrup transport in a narrow western boundary current.

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Because $v={\psi }_x=(g/f_0){\eta }_x$, the mean boundary-current velocity is exactly related to the height change byFor the e-folding convention used in part d,Its robust narrow-layer scaling isThus weaker drag makes the current proportionally narrower and faster. Their product is independent of $\gamma$ to leading order:Mass conservation requires the narrow return transport to cancel the broad Sverdrup balance transport. The meridional gradient of planetary potential vorticity makes a frictional closure possible on the western side and produces western intensification; bottom drag supplies the vorticity sink that permits fluid parcels to cross potential-vorticity contours there.

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In linear quasi-geostrophic approximation, buoyancy and vertical velocity satisfyImpermeability means $w^{\prime }=0$ at $z=-H$ and $z=0$. For a normal mode with nonzero frequency this is equivalent to the Neumann conditionswhere the primes on $\hat{\psi }$ denote derivatives with respect to $z$. Equivalently, ${\psi }_z^{\prime }=0$ at both rigid boundaries.

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Linearizing conservation of three-dimensional quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity about rest givesFor $K^2=k^2+l^2$, the plane-wave ansatz yieldsThus the vertical structure equation isThe rigid-boundary eigenfunctions areSubstitution gives the Baroclinic Rossby wave dispersion relationsThe $n=0$ member is the Barotropic Rossby wave; $n\ge 1$ are baroclinic vertical modes.

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At the free surface, the linear kinematic boundary condition isHydrostatic pressure and geostrophic-streamfunction normalization giveCombining this withgivesFor an oscillatory disturbance with no time-independent boundary offset, the free-surface boundary condition is thereforeThe lower rigid boundary retains ${\psi }_z^{\prime }(-H)=0$.

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Forthe surface value is simply ${\psi }^{\prime }(0)=A$. The dynamic free-surface condition from part i givesThe cosine is the leading small-surface-displacement approximation to the exact quasi-geostrophic vertical mode; its derivative vanishes at both rigid-boundary locations.

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The isopycnal displacement isFor the $n$th cosine mode,Its maximum magnitude is thereforeFor $H=3000\mathrm{m}$, $N=10^{-3}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, and $|\eta {|}_{\max }=10^{-2}\mathrm{m}$,The first baroclinic mode therefore displaces interior density surfaces by about $10^2\mathrm{m}$ even though the surface moves only one centimetre.

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The variables $u,v,w$ are eastward, northward, and upward velocity, $\varphi =p^{\prime }/{\rho }_0$ is the pressure perturbation divided by reference density, $\sigma$ is buoyancy, $N$ is the constant buoyancy frequency, and $\beta y$ is the equatorial approximation to the Coriolis parameter. The equations express, respectively:

Together they are the hydrostatic Boussinesq approximation for long equatorial waves.

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Put $v=0$ and use amplitudes proportional to $e^{i(kx+mz-\omega t)}$. Zonal momentum giveswhile incompressibility, buoyancy evolution, and hydrostatic balance giveHenceMeridional geostrophic balance requiressoDecay as $|y|\to \infty$, together with $\beta >0$ and $k>0$, requires $\omega >0$. ThereforeThe negative-frequency root makes the Gaussian exponent positive and the solution diverge away from the equator. The acceptable branch is the eastward Equatorial Kelvin wave.

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LetSolving zonal momentum and incompressibility for $\hat{u}$ and $\hat{\varphi }$ in terms of $\hat{v}$ givesSubstitution into meridional geostrophic balance cancels the terms involving $D$ and yields

SetThe equation becomesUsing the Hermite polynomial eigenvalues givesandThe associated pressure amplitude isFor $n=0$, the denominator used to solve for $\hat{u}$ and $\hat{\varphi }$ vanishes because ${\omega }_0^2{m}^2/N^2=k^2$. The inversion therefore assumed precisely the condition that excludes that degenerate case; it must be analyzed separately and is not a member of this Equatorial Rossby wave family.

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Every forced propagating mode must have the imposed zonal frequencyFor $C>0$, only the Equatorial Kelvin wave has the correct sign. Upward group velocity in the fluid $z>0$ selectsWith $K(y)=\exp [-\beta y^2/(2C)]$, its pressure field can be writtenHere $v_K=0$, $u_K={\varphi }_K/C$, and the complex vertical-velocity amplitude isThe lower boundary is matched only ifafter choosing the phase of $a_K$ to make the prescribed cosine amplitude real.

For $C<0$, the upward-radiating Equatorial Rossby waves haveChoose each pair $({\hat{v}}_n,{\hat{\varphi }}_n)$ as in part c for this $m_n$. The propagating sum isThe other fields follow mode by mode from part c and ${\hat{w}}_n=-kC{m}_n{\hat{\varphi }}_n/N^2$. Thus the boundary matching condition is

For $C>0$, the space of upward-radiating wave profiles is only the one-dimensional Gaussian Kelvin profile, so a generic $W(y)$ cannot be matched by propagating waves. Its Kelvin projection radiates upward; the remaining forcing produces a balanced, vertically evanescent response trapped near the lower boundary. This is the equatorial analogue of the fact that quasi-geostrophic Rossby waves have westward rather than eastward phase propagation.

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