Rotating Hydraulics: Nonlinear Topographic Effects in the Ocean and Atmosphere

Larry Pratt received his Ph. D. in physical oceanography in theWoods Hole/MIT Joint Program in 1982.  Hethen served as a research associate and assistant research professor at theUniversity of Rhode Island before joining the scientific staff at the WoodsHole Oceanographic Institution, where he is now a senior scientist.  He is editor of The Physical Oceanography of Sea Straits and has authored orco-authored numerous articles on hydraulic effects in the ocean. J. A. (Jack) Whitehead received his Ph. D. in engineering andapplied science from Yale University in 1968. After postdoctoral work and serving as assistant research geophysicistat the Institute of Geophysical and Planetary Physics at UCLA, he joined the scientificstaff at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he is now a SeniorScientist.  He has authored orco-authored numerous articles on hydraulic effects in the ocean. Hydraulic effects can occur when high-speed ocean currentsand atmospheric winds encounter strong topographic features. This book containsa deep and extensive discussion of geophysical flows that are broad enough tobe influenced by Earth?s rotation and strong enough to experience classicalhydraulic effects such as critical control and hydraulic jumps. Examples includedeep overflows and coastal currents in the ocean and winds in the coastalmarine layer. The material is appropriate for students at the graduate oradvanced undergraduate level who have some elementary knowledge of fluidmechanics.  Reviews of geophysicalobservations and of the hydraulics of flow with no background rotation arefollowed by chapters on models of currents in rotating channels, shock wavesand time dependence, coastal flow, two-layer stratification, and jets. Althoughthe primary focus is on the theory, a number of case studies, including theFaroe Bank overflow and the California coastal marine layer winds, arepresented along with numerous laboratory experiments.  Exercises are presented at the end of mostsections.  The presentation should allowthe reader to develop a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of thehydraulics of rotating flows.