Low-Frequency Oscillations of Forced Barotropic Flow

Abstract

Jin and Ghil demonstrate that for topographically resonant flow, low-frequency finite-amplitude oscillations may arise from wave?wave interactions and topographic form drag. Their model is extended to include a zonally asymmetric vorticity source, which is shown to interact with the perturbation field to produce zonally rectified wave fluxes that dramatically alter the Hopf bifurcation from stationary solutions to low-frequency oscillations. The frequency, intensity, and general character of these oscillations are shown to depend crucially upon the phasing and relative strength of the forcings.