513 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics II

This course is a continuation of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics I, OCEAN 512, which serves as a prerequisite.  We will begin with a very brief overview of basic GFD concepts, continue with discussions of potential vorticity conservation, Ekman layer as an asymptotic problem, and then move on to ocean waves (internal gravity, Rossby and Kelvin), shear instability, quasi-geostrophic theory, and baroclinic instability. We will also consider geostrophic turbulence and eddy-mean flow interaction theory.