MC 6460
Candidate
Matthew
Harris
Applied
Mathematics,
University
of
Waterloo
Title
Instabilities of fronts
Abstract
Fronts, locations of large density gradients, are of major importance in both the atmosphere and the oceans. In particular, oceanic fronts play a major role in the ecosystem of the oceans and atmospheric fronts dramatically affect weather patterns. The study of fronts is naturally split into two sections, the development of a front, known as frontogenesis, and the subsequent collapse. The focus of this talk is on the collapse of a front. In particular, we work within the 2 layer shallow water framework and apply linear stability theory to a geostrophically balanced background state in order to find the most unstable modes for a range of Rossby and Richardson numbers. The spatial structure of these modes is then examined.