Past exam of the physics of atmospheres and oceans course of the University of Oxford / 2021 / 5 / c

For $U=0$ and fixed $\omega >0$, completing the square in the dispersion relation givesThese Rossby-wave isofrequency circles lie in the $k\le 0$ half-plane and touch the origin, where the dispersion relation is undefined. Their radii decrease as frequency increases. The zero-frequency line is $k=0,l\ne 0$.

The group velocity is normal to the constant-frequency curves, toward increasing frequency:At $l=0$, the group velocity is eastward; close to $k=0$ it is westward. For the positive-frequency circles its arrows point inward toward the circle centre. Its meridional component is southward in $k<0,l>0$ and northward in $k<0,l<0$.

For $k\ne 0$, the zonal phase velocity, meaning propagation at fixed $y$, isIt is westward everywhere it is defined. The zonal group velocity is eastward for $|k|>|l|$, westward for $|k|<|l|$, and zero on $|k|=|l|$. There is no region of eastward zonal phase velocity. At $k=0$, $\omega /k$ is undefined, though its continuous limiting expression is westward and $c_{gx}=-\beta /l^2$. Using instead the normal-to-wavecrest phase velocity vector gives ${\mathbf{c}}_p=\omega (k,l)/(k^2+l^2)$; its zonal component is also westward for $k\ne 0$, but is not the same scalar as $\omega /k$.