ABSTRACT

In the previous chapters we concentrated on the derivation of equations of motion of fluids in stationary, non-rotating frames and obtained these equations in rectangular as well as spherical coordinate systems. In this chapter our goal is to extend the derivation of equations of motion to rotating frames. Moreover, we begin the discussion of the mathematical relationship between measuring quantities when confined to the rotating frame itself, which is typical of the measurements we make when we collect data about velocity, pressure or salinity on our planet, and the same quantities when viewed from an inertial frame, say a coordinate frame that is stationary relative to our planet. The key new idea now is the mathematical description of the entity called the Coriolis force that appears in the equations of balance linear momentum. The new equations of motion are referred to as the equations of Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, or GFD for short.