A Kelvin wave is a wave in the ocean, a large lake or the atmosphere that balances the Earth's Coriolis force against a topographic boundary such as a coastline, or a waveguide such as the equator. A feature of a Kelvin wave is that it is non-dispersive, i.e., the phase speed of the wave crests is equal to the group speed of the wave energy for all frequencies. This means that it retains its shape as it moves in the alongshore direction over time.
A Kelvin wave (fluid dynamics) is also a long scale perturbation mode of a vortex in superfluid dynamics; in terms of the meteorological or oceanographical derivation, one may assume that the meridional velocity component vanishes (i.e. there is no flow in the north–south direction, thus making the momentum and continuity equations much simpler). This wave is named after the discoverer, Lord Kelvin (1879).[1][2]
^Thomson, W. (Lord Kelvin) (1879), "On gravitational oscillations of rotating water", Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh, 10: 92–100, doi:10.1017/S0370164600043467
^Gill, Adrian E. (1982), Atmosphere–ocean dynamics, International Geophysics Series, vol. 30, Academic Press, pp. 378–380, ISBN 978-0-12-283522-3
A Kelvinwave is a wave in the ocean, a large lake or the atmosphere that balances the Earth's Coriolis force against a topographic boundary such as a...
subclasses of equatorial waves known as the mixed Rossby-gravity wave (also known as the Yanai wave) and the equatorial Kelvinwave. The latter two share...
Rossby waves, like Kelvinwaves, can occur on any rotating planet with an atmosphere. The Y-shaped cloud feature on Venus is attributed to Kelvin and Rossby...
currents; it is now known to be only a very minor factor. KelvinWaves A Kelvinwave is any progressive wave that is channeled between two boundaries or opposing...
geostrophic balance, Kelvinwaves (originally described by Lord Kelvin) and Poincaré waves are generated. The amplitude of a Kelvinwave is highest near the...
produce a wake pattern, first explained mathematically by Lord Kelvin and known today as the Kelvin wake pattern. This pattern consists of two wake lines that...
The wave base, in physical oceanography, is the maximum depth at which a water wave's passage causes significant water motion. At water depths deeper...
winds can create downwelling Kelvinwaves, which propagate along the equator in the eastern Pacific. Series of Kelvinwaves associated with anomalously...
turbulence decays even at very low temperatures. The Kelvinwaves interact and create shorter Kelvinwaves, until they are short enough that emission of sound...
along the coast with speeds of 5 to 8 m/s. The pulses are similar to a Kelvinwave, except on a scale of 30 to 60 km instead of 1000 km, and can propagate...
hit the coast of Sumatra and reflect back as Rossby waves and coastal Kelvinwaves. These Kelvinwaves are guided along the eastern boundary of Indian Ocean...
downwelling Kelvinwaves (eastward moving, eastward flow) that propagate through the Indonesian passages as coastally trapped Kelvinwaves and serve to...
mixed Rossby-gravity and Kelvinwaves can also be observed. Atmospheric thermodynamics Longuet-Higgins, M.S. (1964). "Planetary Waves on a Rotating Sphere"...
photographed by NASA. The Kelvin tide of the Atlantic Ocean is a semidiurnal wave that travels northward. Some of the energy from this wave travels through the...
speed of an equatorial Kelvinwave ( c 2 = g H {\displaystyle c^{2}=gH} ). Their frequencies are much lower than that of gravity waves and represent motion...
In physics, electromagnetic radiation (EMR) consists of waves of the electromagnetic (EM) field, which propagate through space and carry momentum and...
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