On the direction of the eddy momentum flux in baroclinic instability.

Abstract

The direction of the vertically-integrated horizontal eddy flux of momentum in linear baroclinically unstable modes is investigated in a number of cases where the basic flow contains horizontal, as well as vertical, shear. A general result is presented for slowly-growing modes on a flow with weak horizontal shear. Some special cases are described in which standard baroclinic instabilities of finite growth rate (for an internal jet, Eady's model, and a two-layer model) are perturbed by weak horizontal shear, and some computations for flows with large horizontal shear are also mentioned. -from Authors