Author(s): Stefania Espa; Antonio Cenedese; Gabriella Di Nitto

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Abstract: The emergence of a sequence of alternating intense and elongated eastward-westward bands i. e. zonal jets in the atmosphere of the giant planets and in the Earth’s oceans have been widely investigated. Nevertheless jets formation and role as material barriers remain still unclear. Jets are generated in a quasi 2D turbulent flow due to the effects of the latitudinal variation of the Coriolis parameter which modify the inverse cascade process channeling energy towards zonal modes. In previous experiments we have investigated the impact of the variation of the rotation rate, of the domain geometry and of the initial spectra on jets organization in decaying regime. In this work we investigate how these parameters impact on a continuously forced flow i. e. in terms of number of observed jets, direction of the zonal wind, characteristic size. We also attempt to verify the existence of an universal regime corresponding to the so-called zonostrophic turbulence. The experimental setup consists of a rotating tank where turbulence is generated by electromagnetically forcing a shallow layer of an electrolyte solution, and the variation of Coriolis parameter has been simulated by the parabolic profile assumed by the free surface assumed by the fluid under rotation. Flow measurements have been performed using image analysis.

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Year: 2010