Transitions Between Blocked and Zonal Flows in a Rotating Annulus with Topography
Abstract
The mid-latitude atmosphere is dominated by westerly, nearly zonal flow. Occasionally, this flow is deflected poleward by blocking anticyclones that persist for 10 days or longer. Experiments in a rotating annulus used radial pumping to generate a zonal jet under the action of the Coriolis force. In the presence of two symmetric ridges at the bottom of the annulus, the resulting flows were nearly zonal at high forcing or blocked at low forcing. Intermittent switching between blocked and zonal patterns occurs because of the jet's interaction with the topography. These results shed further light on previous atmospheric observations and numerical simulations.
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We thank C. Baroud, M. Kimoto, P. Klein, L. Panetta, P. L. Read, D. Tritton, and three anonymous referees for helpful comments. K. Hartman and G. Llamas helped with the text and W. Weibel with the figures. The experiments were supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The University of California Los Angeles investigators were supported by NSF; M.G. was also supported by the Elf-Aquitaine/CNRS Chair of the Académie des Sciences, Paris. E.R.W. acknowledges the support of an ONR Augmentation Award for Science and Engineering Training and a University of Texas Livingston Fellowship.
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Published In
Science
Volume 278 | Issue 5343
28 November 1997
28 November 1997
Submission history
Received: 22 July 1997
Accepted: 17 October 1997
Published in print: 28 November 1997
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