Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 333 1 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Potential-vorticity conservation still determines the final surface throughThe unbounded problem only required decay or matching as and become large. The coast adds a boundary condition. In the adjusted geostrophic flow,so 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 , 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 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 . Far from the wall the contours and current resemble the unbounded east--west front; near 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.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 333 2 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
The eastern wall has no normal flow, so the quasi-geostrophic streamfunction is constant there. Choose . Integrating the Sverdrup relation givesSince geostrophic balance gives ,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.