Chaotic and periodic behavior of finite-amplitude baroclinic waves.

Abstract

Numerical integrations of the amplitude equations governing the dynamics of a weakly unstable finite-amplitude baroclinic wave have revealed a new and unexpectedly complex dependence on the degree of dissipation. Aperiodic, chaotic behavior is a true quality of the dynamics of baroclinic wave-mean flow interaction for a narrow but finite range of disspation. Aperiodicity is favoured when the dissipation time scale is moderately longer than the e-folding time scale for linear instability. -from Authors