Baroclinic Rossby waves and oceanic variability

We propose to examine the oceanic response to changes in atmospheric forcing. Satellite data suggests that westward propagating signals consistent with baroclinic Rossby waves account for a significant fraction of oceanic variability in many regions. Rece ntly, researchers have suggested these waves may originate from the resonant forcing of basin normal modes. However, we find that the Rossby waves involved are unstable, and as such will break up into deformation scale eddies. There are two implications: first, that only certain basin modes will be able to participate in climatic interactions; second, that the unstable waves may actually help drive oceanic mesoscale variability. In the proposed work, we would use a numerical model to understand further th e consequences of this wave instability.