Transitions between blocked and zonal flows in a rotating annulus with topography

@article{Weeks1997TransitionsBB,
  title={Transitions between blocked and zonal flows in a rotating annulus with topography},
  author={Weeks and Tian and Urbach and Ide and Swinney and Ghil},
  journal={Science},
  year={1997},
  volume={278 5343},
  pages={
          1598-601
        }
}
  • Weeks, Tian, +3 authors Ghil
  • Published 28 November 1997
  • Environmental Science, Physics
  • Science
The mid-latitude atmosphere is dominated by westerly, nearly zonal flow. Occasionally, this flow is deflected poleward by blocking anticyclones that persist for 10 days or longer. Experiments in a rotating annulus used radial pumping to generate a zonal jet under the action of the Coriolis force. In the presence of two symmetric ridges at the bottom of the annulus, the resulting flows were nearly zonal at high forcing or blocked at low forcing. Intermittent switching between blocked and zonal… 
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