Jtf. Zimmerman, A SIMPLE-MODEL FOR THE SYMMETRY PROPERTIES OF NONLINEAR WIND-DRIVEN OCEAN CIRCULATION, Geophysical and astrophysical fluid dynamics, 71(1-4), 1993, pp. 1-15
It is shown that the symmetry properties of barotropic nonlinear wind
driven ocean circulation, as presented in the numerical simulations of
Veronis (1966a,b), can easily be derived analytically for large Ekman
number, the so-called ''small beta regime'', and for any strength of
the nonlinearity, by a perturbation expansion in the inverse Ekman num
ber. The solution is a superposition of a vorticity monopole, dipole a
nd quadrupole, the symmetry properties of which are qualitatively the
same as those of the Veronis' sequence. It is also shown that the Vero
nis' sequence does not lead to the inertial Fofonoff (1954) mode, but
that the latter is the limit of another sequence in the parameter plan
e spanned by the Rossby and Ekman numbers.