These are the original geostrophic adjustment papers. Rossby starts out by asking what,if anything, limits the ability for a flow to be in geostrophic balance (to precisely follow pressure contours on a rotating planet). This topic is now a classroom standard, but we often forget how insightful the original articles are..

Rossby, C.-G.

English

Yale University

      P.O. BOX 208118 | NEW HAVEN CT 06520-8118 USA | PEABODY.YALE. EDU   JOURNAL OF MARINE RESEARCH The Journal of Marine Research, one of the oldest journals in American marine science, published important peer-reviewed original research on a broad array of topics in physical, biological, and chemical oceanography vital to the academic oceanographic community in the long and rich tradition of the Sears Foundation for Marine Research at Yale University.  An archive of all issues from 1937 to 2021 (Volume 1–79) are available through EliScholar,  a digital platform for scholarly publishing provided by Yale University Library at  https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/.  Requests for permission to clear rights for use of this content should be directed to the authors, their estates, or other representatives. The Journal of Marine Research has no contact information beyond the affiliations listed in the published articles. 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Corrected page proofs must be returned to the Journal of Marine Research office within seven (7) days.For a full version of our author guidelines, visit www.journalofmarineresearch.orgnote to authorsThe Journal of Marine Research is part of the Sears Foundation for Marine Research, founded in 1937 by A. E. Parr as a result of a gift to Yale University by Henry Sears. The Sears Foundation for Marine Research Fund is administered by Yale University as part of its nonprofit operation. Income is used solely for the purpose of publishing and improving the quality the Journal of Marine Research for the benefit of its readers. Authors published in the Journal of Marine Research reserve all copyright and proprietary rights, such as trademark and patent rights, in the manuscript. For permission to reproduce figures or text, please contact the corresponding author. Published in U.S.A. for the Sears Foundation for Marine Research,Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8118 U.S.A.Cenveo Publisher Services, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17601 U.S.A.www.JournalofMarineResearch.org Contents 1  Classic article: Editor’s commentary   by Kenneth H. Brink5  On the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocity distributions in certain  simple current systems   by C.-G. Rossby17  On the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocity distributions in certain simple  current systems, II   by C.-G. Rossby41  Classic article: Editor’s commentary   by Kenneth H. Brink43  Relation between variations in the intensity of the zonal circulation of the  atmosphere and the displacements of the semi-permanent centers of action   by C.-G. Rossby and CollaboratorsJournal of Marine Research Volume 78, Issue 1 • January 2020Sears Foundation for Marine Research • Yale University Journal of Marine Research, 78, 1–3, 2020Journal of Marine Research Classic ArticlesOn the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocitydistributions in certain simple current systems1On the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocitydistributions in certain simple current systems, II2by C.-G. RossbyEDITOR’S COMMENTARYThese are the original geostrophic adjustment papers. Rossby starts out by asking what,if anything, limits the ability for a flow to be in geostrophic balance (to precisely followpressure contours on a rotating planet). This topic is now a classroom standard, but we oftenforget how insightful the original articles are. Three interesting aspects of these papers are:—Rossby introduces the seemingly ubiquitous “radius of deformation,” a length scale (givenby the long gravity wave speed divided by the Coriolis parameter) that crops up in virtuallyany problem involving a horizontally divergent flow on a rotating planet. It is instructive toread how Rossby chose the name.—Rossby points out that momentum will be transferred downward in a stratified ocean, sothat we should never expect the deep ocean to be quiescent. This more than a decade beforethe landmark Swallow and Crease (Crease 1962) experiment demonstrated this in the realocean.—The articles foreshadow the yet-to-be-discovered theory of baroclinic instability, which,in nature, limits how strong a geostrophically balanced vertical shear can become and, inthe process, creates weather in the atmosphere.These papers are classics, still enlightening more than 80 years later.1Originally published November 17, 1937, in the Journal of Marine Research 1(1), 15–28.2Originally published September 30, 1938, in the Journal of Marine Research 1(3), 239–263.12 Journal of Marine Research [78, 1Carl-Gustaf A. Rossby on June 3, 1939, when he was named Assistant Chief for Research andEducation of the United States Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C. For this post, Rossby wasgranted a three-year leave of absence from his faculty position at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540; Harris& Ewing photograph collection; https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016875745/.Carl-Gustaf Rossby (1898–1957) was indeed a seminal figure in the fields of dynam-ical meteorology and oceanography. Born in Sweden, he studied at Stockholm and inBergen, Norway, with Vilhelm Bjerknes (noted, among other things, for his leadershipin developing quantitative weather forecasting). After that, Rossby held a remarkablesequence of academic and governmental positions, including with the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the University ofChicago. He spent his final years in Stockholm where he became engaged in atmosphericchemistry.Rossby is responsible for several fundamental developments in the study of dynamicsof fluids on a rotating planet. He is perhaps best known for “Rossby waves”: large-scaledisturbances that exist because of the conservation of vorticity on a rotating planet. Hisoriginal inspiration for the development of this idea was the motion of atmospheric weathersystems, although the concept is similarly useful in study of the ocean. In addition, his“geostrophic adjustment” model provided key insights on the nature of large-scale flows2020] Rossby: On the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocity distributions 3and their natural scales. The “Rossby number,” the accepted measure of the importance ofnonlinear fluid processes on a rotating planet, is also named for him.Rossby’s intellectual and practical accomplishments brought wide recognition, includingin 1956 becoming the first meteorologist pictured on the cover of Time magazine.—Kenneth H. BrinkREFERENCESCrease, J. 1962. Velocity measurements in the deep water of the western North Atlantic: Summary.J. Geophys. Res. 67(8), 3173–3176. https://doi.org/10.1029/JZ067i008p03173.

Editor\u27s Commentary: On the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocity distributions in certain simple current systems

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Editor\u27s Commentary: On the mutual adjustment of pressure and velocity distributions in certain simple current systems

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