Topographically forced three-wave quasi-esonant and non-resonant interactions among barotropic rossby waves on an infinnite beta-plane

Abstract

In this paper, we first apply the assumption h = εh′ of topographic variation (h is the nondimensional topographic height and is a small parameter) to obtain nonlinear equations describing three-wave quasi-resonant and non-resonant interactions among Rossby waves for zonal wavenumbers 1—3 over a wavenumber-two bottom topography (WTBT). Some numerical calculations are made with the fourt-order Rung-Kutta Scheme. It is found that for the case without topographic forcing, the period of three-wave quasi-resonance (TWQR) is found to be independent of the zonal basic westerly wind, but dependent on the meridional wavenumber and the initial amplitudes. For the fixed initial data, when the frequency mismatch is smaller and the meridional wavelength is moderate, its period will belong to the 30–60-day period band. However, when the wavenumber-two topography is included, the periods of the forced quasi-resonant Rossby waves are also found to be strongly dependent on the setting of the zonal basic westerly wind. Under the same conditions, only when the zonal basic westerly wind reaches a moderate extent, intraseasonal oscillations in the 30–60-day period band can be found for zonal wavenumbers 1–3. On the other hand, if three Rossby waves considered have the same meridional wavenumber, three-wave non-resonant interaction over a WTBT can occur in this case. When the WTBT vanishes, the amplitudes of these Rossby waves are conserved. But in the presence of a WTBT, the three Rossby waves oscillate with the identical period. The period, over a moderate range of the zonal basic westerly wind, is in the intraseasonal, 30–60-Day range.