The Interaction of Equatorial Kelvin Waves with Realistically Sheared Zonal Currents

Abstract

We investigate the interaction of baroclinic equatorial Kelvin waves with realistically sheared background zonal currents in a linearized, continuously stratified model. The background flows are in thermal wind balance and allowed to vary continuously in the meridional and vertical directions. The governing equations for long-wave perturbations that are harmonic in time and longitude are reduced to a second-order partial differential equation for pressure on the meridional plane, then solved numerically in finite difference form. Our results