12.820 | Spring 2006 | Graduate

Turbulence in the Ocean and Atmosphere

Lecture Notes

Some lectures have additional material in the form of figures and movies referred to as graphics in the table below.

Note: Although the content will correspond directly, many of these graphics links lead to pages in the Spring 2007 version of this course, where lecture number may not correspond. Use the “back” button in your browser to return to this page when done.

LEC # TOPICS GRAPHICS
1 Introduction (PDF - 1.0 MB)  
2 Transition to turbulence (PDF)  
3 Statistics and turbulence (PDF)  
4-7 Convection (PDF) Page 5: planforms
Page 7: growth rate surfaces
Page 7: stability bndry
Page 9: lorenz eqns tau=0
Page 9: lorenz eqns tau=10
Page 11: mfa
Page 11: 2d
Page 12: rough surfaces
Page 13: finite amp
Page 14: surface convection
Page 15: thermals
Page 15: thermals in stratification
Page 16: plumes
Page 16: plumes in stratification
8 Atmospheric convection (PDF - 2.0 MB) (Courtesy of Prof. Kerry Emanuel. Used with permission.)  
9 3D turbulence (PDF)  
10 3D turbulence and tracers (PDF)  
11 Closure schemes for 3D turbulence (PDF)  
12 Ocean turbulence  
13 Ocean turbulence (double diffusions)  
14 Two-dimensional turbulence (PDF) Page 2: 2d
Page 2: statistics
Page 2: averages
Page 3: mean k
Page 5: point vortex simulations
Page 7: vortex waves
Page 7: vortices in shear
Page 8: vortices in neighbor field
15-16 QG turbulence (PDF) Page 4: means
Page 5: two vertical mode case
Page 6: example
Page 6: resonance
Page 7: resonance-angle
Page 7: resonance-modes
17 Particle dispersion and drift (PDF)  
18 Tracer turbulence (PDF) effective diffusivity in a channel

effective diffusivity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere

19 Transformed Eulerian mean (PDF)  
20 Mean-field approximation  
21 Active tracer transport (PDF)  
22 Boundary layer turbulence (PDF)