The Ubiquitous Zonal Jets in the Atmospheres of Giant Planets and Earth's Oceans

Authors

Boris Galperin, University of South FloridaFollow
Hideyuki Nakano, Meteorological Research Institute
Huei-Ping Huang, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
Semion Sukoriansky, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2004

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019691

Abstract

Recent eddy-permitting simulations of the North Pacific Ocean have revealed robust patterns of multiple zonal jets that visually resemble the zonal jets on giant planets. We argue that this resemblance is more than just visual because the energy spectrum of the oceanic jets obeys a power law that fits spectra of zonal flows on the outer planets. Remarkably, even the non-dimensional proportionality coefficient, CZ, determined by data under that spectral law, appears to be constant for all cases and approximately equal to 0.5. These results indicate that the multiple jet sets in the ocean and in the atmospheres of giant planets are governed by the same dynamics characterized by an anisotropic inverse energy cascade, i.e., the flow of energy from isotropic small-scale eddies to anisotropic large-scales structures, as well as the unique anisotropic spectrum. Implications of these results for climate research and future designs of observational missions are discussed.

Rights Information

Terms of use for work posted in Scholar Commons.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Geophysical Research Letters, v. 31, issue 13, art. L13303

©2004. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Scholar Commons Citation

Galperin, Boris; Nakano, Hideyuki; Huang, Huei-Ping; and Sukoriansky, Semion, "The Ubiquitous Zonal Jets in the Atmospheres of Giant Planets and Earth's Oceans" (2004). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 1448.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/1448