General Description

Basic fluid dynamical concepts: equations of motion, basic approximations, Coriolis force, wave motions, normal modes, gravity waves, frictional turbulence and convective processes, scaling arguments, Rossby waves, vorticity and potential vorticity.

We will first develop the governing equations and fundamental fluid concepts, apply them to examples from classical fluid dynamics, then to geophysical situations. Fundamental ideas in Geophysical Fluid Dynmics include convection, stratification, rotation, waves and their interaction with the mean flow, instabilities, and mixing.