Course Syllabus

The course is a continuation of OCM100, Physical Oceanography I. It provides an introduction to time-dependent phenomena in the sea, such as waves and instabilities at both small and large scales. A great emphasis is on the physical understanding of how small amplitude disturbances propagate and how a rotating fluid naturally evolves toward a state of geostrophic balance, a process known as the geostrophic adjustment. The course will also give a review of how turbulent mixing takes place in the sea, describing what controls the seasonal variability of the surface mixed layer properties and what sets the stratification in the ocean’s interior.

Sub-courses

1. Waves and Mixing (Vågor och Blandning), 10 credits

   • Shallow-water system: equations and conserved quantities
     
   • Shallow-water waves and geostrophic adjustment
   • Normal-mode decomposition
     
   • Quasi-geostrophic equations
   • Rossby waves
   • Shear-Instabilities and turbulent mixing in a fluid
     
   • Barotropic/Baroclinic instability
     
   • Geostrophic turbulence
2. Data analysis, 5 credits