The influence of meridional shear on planetary waves. Part 2: critical latitudes.

Abstract

With the simplifying assumption that the mean zonal wind is a function of latitude only, numerical and analytical methods are applied to study the effects of critical latitudes (where the Doppler-shifted frequency is 0) on planetary waves. On the midlatitude beta-plane, it is shown that the modes divide into two limiting classes.-from Author Center for Earth & Planetary Physics, Harvard Univ., Cambridge MA 02138.