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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Robin Johnson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.The governing equations for a viscous, incompressible fluid, in the thin-shell approximation, written in a coordinate frame which ensures validity at the North Pole, is simplified by invoking the f-plane approximation. Together with suitable stress conditions at the surface, describing the interaction of wind over ice and ice over water, a solution is developed for the Transpolar Drift current. This involves prescribing the near-surface geostrophic ocean flow and also, for ease of calculation, a simple version of the Ekman flow. Then, via the stress conditions at the surface, the near-surface wind consistent with these flows is obtained. An example, which exhibits the reduction in ice thickness as the flow moves over the North Pole towards the Fram Strait, and also describes the relative directions and speeds of the wind, ice and water, is presented in graphical form; this solution recovers what is observed. The considerable freedom available in this approach, allowing choices to be made for the geostrophic flow and the wind (both variable), and the ice profile at some initial position, is explained, opening the way to further, extensive investigations.
Author(s): Constantin A, Johnson RS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Year: 2024
Pages: epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 17/06/2024
Acceptance date: 25/04/2024
Date deposited: 24/06/2024
ISSN (print): 0309-1929
ISSN (electronic): 1029-0419
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03091929.2024.2351919
DOI: 10.1080/03091929.2024.2351919
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