Past exam of the physics of atmospheres and oceans course of the University of Oxford / 2017 / 5 / d / Solution

Apply the intended, corrected dispersion relation in c. A uniform mean zonal wind gives ${\omega }_{\mathrm{ground}}=\hat{\omega }+kU$. Stationarity with $U=-20\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ therefore requires eastward intrinsic phase speed $\hat{\omega }/k=-U=20\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. With $k=1/a$,The period determines $\Omega =2\pi /(24.4\times 3600\mathrm{s})$ and $\beta =2\Omega /a\simeq 4.21\times 10^{-11}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. Hence

A storm within roughly $12^{\circ }$ of the equator has substantial projection on the Gaussian mode. There is no sharp latitude cutoff: $|y|=L_D$ gives amplitude $e^{-1/2}$ and the $1/e$ amplitude latitude is about $16.4^{\circ }$. Forcing outside that core has progressively weaker overlap.

The intrinsic wave is eastward even though its observed ground pattern is stationary; westward advection cancels its phase propagation. Its intrinsic period is about $12.4$ Earth days. The inferred $|m|\gg 1/(2H)$ puts it in the short-vertical-wavelength branch, well below the long-wave speed $2NH=200\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. For upward energy radiation, $\partial \hat{\omega }/\partial m$ must be positive, which selects $m<0$ for positive $k,\hat{\omega }$: vertical phase propagation is then downward. Dust absorption supplies thermal forcing with a zonally asymmetric component; the response does not imply that dust itself moves eastward at the intrinsic phase speed.

Southern spring to summer, the warmer perihelion-side dust season, is a reasonable climatological window for such a regional storm. This seasonal inference uses observed dust climatology, not the dispersion relation: the specified wind and wave parameters alone do not determine a unique season, and individual regional storms can occur outside that window.^[ref]