76th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (November 19, 2023 — November 21, 2023)

V0009: Experimental visualization of Rossby waves as transport barriers

Authors

• Prafulla P. Shevkar, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036 and Geophysical Flows Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India
• Anoop M V, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036 and Geophysical Flows Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India
• Philippe Odier, Laboratoire de Physique, ENS de Lyon, 46 allée d’Italie, 69364 Lyon CEDEX 07, France
• Manikandan Mathur, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036 and Geophysical Flows Laboratory, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2023.GFM.V0009

Rossby waves are large-scale planetary waves that occur due to the planet's rotation and its spherical shape. These waves occur in both the Earth's ocean and the atmosphere. They contribute to weather events such as low-pressure systems, cold waves, high tides, and coastal flooding. Here, we experimentally study Rossby waves in laboratory-scale settings in a rapidly rotating annular tank with an annular jet forcing mechanism and a linear slope at the bottom. Neutrally buoyant particles are added to the flow, which scatter laser light to aid in visualizing and studying particle transport in the flow . Experiments show that Rossby waves act as a barrier to transport, causing a visually noticeable particle concentration gradient in the flow.

Acknowledgements: We acknowledge funding support from the Indian Space Research Organization, Department of Science & Technology and the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development.