Rossby waves in a fluctuating zonal mean flow

Abstract

The effects of the zonal mean wind variability on the energy propagation of a stationary Rossby wave in a barotropic nondivergent atmosphere are studied. It is shown that the random nature of the zonal wind fluctuations do not allow Rossby wave energy to propagate from its energy source. The mechanism for this effect is strongly dependent on the spatial resolution at which the zonal mean flow is assumed to be known. Some speculations are offered on the relation between this mechanism and the systematic error of some low-resolution climate models.