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Lecture 10. Equations of Motion - Introduction - W - Audio

This document discusses key concepts in physical oceanography and vector calculus used to describe fluid flow. It introduces coordinate systems including Cartesian and spherical, and defines scalars and vectors. It then explains key vector calculus concepts like gradient, divergence, curl and their physical interpretations. These concepts are essential mathematical tools for quantifying how physical quantities like temperature, velocity and vorticity vary over space and time in oceanic flows.

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Leah Marie Mahomoc
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7 views

Lecture 10. Equations of Motion - Introduction - W - Audio

This document discusses key concepts in physical oceanography and vector calculus used to describe fluid flow. It introduces coordinate systems including Cartesian and spherical, and defines scalars and vectors. It then explains key vector calculus concepts like gradient, divergence, curl and their physical interpretations. These concepts are essential mathematical tools for quantifying how physical quantities like temperature, velocity and vorticity vary over space and time in oceanic flows.

Uploaded by

Leah Marie Mahomoc
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Physical

Oceanography
MATH Review

● Coordinate system

● Scalar versus Vector

● Gradient

● Divergence

● Curl
Coordinate systems
Cartesian - or rectangular, coordinate axes are straight lines, mutually perpendicular;
divides space up into little cubes.
Spherical - curvilinear coordinates that
is natural for describing positions on a
sphere.

r, ρ - radial distance
X – east-west θ - polar angle -> latitude
Y – north-south φ - azimuthal angle -> longitude
Z – up-down
Cartesian Coordinate System
• f-plane -Coriolis force is assumed constant. It is useful for describing flow in
regions small compared with the radius of the earth and larger than a few tens of
kilometers.

• Β-plane - Coriolis force is assumed to vary linearly with latitude. It is useful for
describing flow over areas as large as ocean basins.
Coordinate systems

● right-handed Cartesian coordinate system


− positions in space are specified in terms of
coordinates x, y, z, usually east, north, and up
Vector Calculus and the Description of
Fluid Flow
● Quantity is either a scalar or a vector
*Scalar
− a single number regardless of the orientation of one’s frame of reference.
− constant numbers, such as the mass of the earth, or
− time-variable numbers, such as the mass of a particular iceberg
− fields: continuous functions of space (position), and possibly of time

Ex. salinity and temperature

*Vector
− with both magnitude and direction-> depends on the orientation of one’s frame of reference.

Ex. a. angular velocity of the earth (magnitude – rate of rotation/day); direction – earth’s axis of rotation)

b. velocity of the water


Ocean’s 3-Dimensional velocity (A) can be specified
in the following form, using unit vector notation:

U = ui + vj + wk
→
Typical vector notation:_ U, U, U

Magnitude of a vector: |U| (0, 0, 1)

Unit vector: i, j, k or (0, 1, 0)

(1, 0, 0)
Vector coordinate conventions in space
Del, or nabla, is an operator used in vector calculus, as a
vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla
symbol,

- convenient mathematical notation for these three operators, that makes


many equations easier to write and remember
Gradient
Example, temperature in a 3-Dimensional function, the gradient is
calculated by:

then

Temperature gradient vector at a point X. The gradient vector points in the direction in
which temperature changes most quickly
Gradient
Gradient of a field with contour plot

Example: temperature gradient is a physical quantity that describes in which direction and at
what rate the temperature changes the most rapidly around a particular location.
Divergence
The divergence operator (∇· or div) can be formally defined as follows:

Given a vector field:


(1)

Divergence is defined as:

(2)

For example, in 3-dimensional velocity field:

(3)

(4)

(5)
∇ . U is a scalar, not a vector
Interpretation of divergence
- the amount of spreading or expanding of a vector field.

(x0,y0) (x0,y0) (x0,y0)

(x0,y0) (x0,y0) (x0,y0)

Convergent Divergent Non-divergent


Curl
- is a calculation of the amount of rotation in a flow (vector) field

The curl operator (∇×or curl) for a 3D flow field is defined as follows:

Given the same 3-Dimensional velocity field from before:

The curl is the cross product of the gradient operator with the vector field:

∇×U is a vector, not a scalar.


Curl Vorticity

Surface horizontal velocity (arrows) and surface relative vorticity (colors). The velocity field is
from the output of Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) simulation.
Interpretation of curl
- amount of turn or spin in a vector field.
Interpretation of curl
Velocity field - Lagrangian Vs. Eulerian Method
Eulerian vs Lagrangian
-focuses on specific locations in -observer follows an individual fluid
the space through which the fluid flows parcel as it moves through space and
as time passes. time

- moored current meters, ADCP - drifters, floats, and tracers


moored profilers

-Velocity is expressed as a function of position - Position and velocity are expressed as


and time functions of position at some initial
time.
Representation of a fluid (scalar or vector fields) means that
each physical quantity (parcel) is described as a function of
time and position.

called total derivative

called local time derivative


Time-dependent term - local acceleration

Spatial dependent term - advective acceleration

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