AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON EFFECTS OF THE BETA TOPOGRAPHY ON SURFACE FLOWS IN A ROTATING ANNULUS SUBJECT TO RADIAL TEMPERATURE GRADIENT

Beta effects on surface flows in a rotating annulus with a radial temperature gradient and a sloping bottom were studied experimentally. An azimuthal jet was produced by the action of the Coriolis force in the convective region between the two side walls of the annulus. Propagating velocity and patterns of the baroclinic wave on the surface were obrained by using a frequency-meter and a streak photograph respectively. It is shown that there exists the nonlinear interaction between the baroelinic and beta effects. The beta effect exerts little influence on the stratification flows and constrains the baroclinic instability, and it prompts the instability of the weak stratification flows and results in the surface pattern of waves with higher frequency. It is also indicated that the beta effect can reduce the propagating speed of the surface waves in the jet, and increase the thermal Rossby number for those same surface patterns under a given Taylor number.