CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 101Oceanographic and Atmospheric ProcessesFluid Dynamics and Turbulent FlowsMeteorological Phenomena and Simulations

Jets.

Rhines, Peter B.·1994·Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science
DOI 10.1063/1.166011
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This is a discussion of concentrated large-scale flows in planetary atmospheres and oceans, argued from the viewpoint of basic geophysical fluid dynamics. We give several elementary examples in which these flows form jets on rotating spheres. Jet formation occurs under a variety of circumstances: when flows driven by external stress have a rigid boundary which can balance the Coriolis force, and at which further concentration can be caused by the beta effect; when there are singular lines like the line of vanishing windstress or windstress-curl, or the Equator; when compact sources of momentum, heat or mass radiate jet-like beta plumes along latitude circles; when random external stirring of the fluid becomes organized by the beta effect into jets; when internal instability of the mass field generates zonal flow which then is concentrated into jets; when bottom topographic obstacles radiate jets, and when frontogenesis leads to shallow jet formation. Essential to the process of jet formation in stratified fluids is the baroclinic life cycle described in geostrophic turbulence studies; there, conversion from potential to kinetic energy generates eddy motions, and these convert to quasibarotropic motions which then radiate and induce jet-like large-scale circulation. Ideas of potential vorticity stirring by eddies generalize the notion of Rossby-wave radiation, showing how jets embedded in an ambient potential vorticity gradient (typically due to the spherical geometry of the rotating planet) gain eastward momentum while promoting broader, weaker westward circulation. Homogenization of potential vorticity is an important limit point, which many geophysical circulations achieve. This well-mixed state is found in subdomains of the terrestrial midlatitude oceans, the high-latitude circumpolar ocean, and episodically in the middle atmosphere. Homogenization expels potential vorticity gradients vertically to the top and bottom of the fluid, and sideways to the edges of flow domains or gyres; in both these ways is jet formation enhanced.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1063/1.166011

Cites

63 of 63 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In general, the prograde jets (or zonal velocity maxima) are sharper than the retrograde jets (or zonal velocity minima), consistent with the zonal velocity maxima being barotropically more stable.

    “In general, the prograde jets (or zonal velocity maxima) are sharper than the retrograde jets (or zonal velocity minima), consistent with the zonal velocity maxima being barotropically more stable (Rhines 1994).”

    From Mechanisms of Jet Formation on the Giant Planets (2010) · cites this paper as Rhines 1994

  • Eddies in rapidly rotating atmospheres generally transport angular momentum from their dissipation (breaking) region into their generation region.

    “Eddies in rapidly rotating atmospheres generally transport angular momentum from their dissipation (breaking) region into their generation region (Held 1975;Andrews andMcIntyre 1976, 1978;Rhines 1994;Held 2000;Vallis 2006, chapter 12).”

    From Mechanisms of Jet Formation on the Giant Planets (2010) · cites this paper as Rhines 1994

  • Vorticity mixing arguments give an estimate for the maximum strength of the equatorial jet: if the end state of vorticity mixing is a state in which the absolute vorticity is homogenized across the equatorial jet in each hemisphere separately, with a barotropically stable jump at the equator, and if the jet half-width L_s is similar to the equatorial Rossby radius L_b, the jet speed at the equator

    “Vorticity mixing arguments give an estimate for the maximum strength of the equatorial jet (Rhines 1994; SL09): If the end state of vorticity mixing is a state in which the absolute vorticity is homogenized across the equatorial jet in each hemisphere separately, with a barotropically stable jump at the equator, and if the jet half-width L s is similar to the equatorial Rossby radius L b , the jet”

    From Mechanisms of Jet Formation on the Giant Planets (2010) · cites this paper as Rhines 1994

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

10 of the 73 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Rhines, P. B.
Affiliations
University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Rhines, Peter B.
Venue
Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Published
1994-06-01
Volume
4
Issue
2
Pages
313-339
ISSN
  • 1054-1500 (ISSN-L)
  • 1089-7682
DOI
10.1063/1.166011
OpenAlex
W4236144607
Cited by
101
References
73
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 4
FWCI
2.18
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
Keywords
jet formation, rotating sphere, beta effect, potential vorticity, Rossby waves, baroclinic instability, geostrophic turbulence, stratified fluid, frontogenesis, zonal flows, gyres, mid-latitude ocean, middle atmosphere

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review