Equations of motion using thermodynamic coordinates

The forms of the primitive equations of motion and continuity are obtained when an arbitrary thermodynamic state variable--restricted only to be vertically monotonic--is used as the vertical coordinate. Natural generalizations of the Montgomery and Exner function suggest themselves. For a multicompo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of physical oceanography Vol. 30; no. 11; p. 2814
Main Author de Szoeke, Roland A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston American Meteorological Society 01.11.2000
Subjects
Ocean currents
Oceanography
Salinity
Seawater
Thermodynamics
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Summary:The forms of the primitive equations of motion and continuity are obtained when an arbitrary thermodynamic state variable--restricted only to be vertically monotonic--is used as the vertical coordinate. Natural generalizations of the Montgomery and Exner function suggest themselves. For a multicomponent fluid like seawater the dependence of the coordinate on salinity, coupled with the thermobaric effect, generates contributions to the momentum balance from the salinity gradient, multiplied by a thermodynamic coefficient that can be completely described given the coordinate variable and the equation of state.
ISSN:0022-3670
1520-0485
DOI:10.1175/1520-0485(2001)031<2814:>2.0.CO;2