On inertial oscillations in the oceans

Abstract

The interpretation of the observed spectral peaks of certain oceanic disturbances near the inertial latitudes in terms of inertial waves given by Munk & Phillips (1968) is reassessed in the light of the more complete theory given by Stewartson & Walton (1974). It is shown that these waves are not in fact confined to the neighbourhood of the inertial latitudes but decay only slowly on the equatorial side to about one-quarter of their maximum at the equator. Stewartson & Walton (1974) also discussed the character of waves of inertial frequency for varying values of a parameter F, a measure of the relative magnitude of the inertial frequency at the inertial latitude and the Brunt-Vaisala frequency. Munk & Phillips' waves constitute the limit F → 0 and it is suggested here that the observed incoherence may be due to the non-vanishing of this parameter.