Laboratory Study of the General Ocean Circulation

对等深旋转圆柱形水池中的热驱动环流进行了实验研究。通过冷却盆地侧壁的“北方“部分来实现热强迫。在一些实验中，工作盆地通过浅水通道与“开阔的海洋”相连。沿着“北方”边界的深沉降在上层产生一个具有强烈“西”边界流的反气旋环流。只要上层流体表面是自由的，表面的“西”边界流是更强大和更广泛的比底层冷逆流从下沉区，有一个净向北输送。这可能是第一次在没有β效应和风应力的情况下引起的西部强化。如果在盆地的“西”侧有一个浅通道，则由于“北方”下沉，通过通道会出现明显的流入。浮力驱动运动的垂向结构主要取决于底部边界条件。如果底部是自由滑动的（这是通过使用淀粉乳液来实现的），则任何对流运动都成为内部模式，而没有净水平输送。然而，如果底部是非滑动的，则对流运动通常具有占主导地位的正压分量。

A thermally driven circulation in a rotating (anti-clockwise) cylindrical basin of constant depth was studied experimentally. The thermal forcing was achieved by cooling a 'northern " portion of the basin's sidewall. In some experiments the working basin was connected to an 'open ocean' through shallow passages.Important new findings are1. An anti-cyclonic circulation with an intense 'western' boundary current is produced in the upper layer by the deep sinking along the 'northern' boundary. So long as the upper fluid surface is free, the surface 'western' boundary current is much stronger and wider than the underlying cold counter current from the sinking region, having a net northward transport. This may be the first western intensification that has been caused without the, beta-effect and wind stresses.2. If there is a shallow passage on the "western" side of the basin, an appreciable inflow occurs through the passage due to the "northern" sinking.3. Vertical structure of buoyancy-driven motions critically depends on the bottom boundary condition. If the bottom is free-slip (this was achieved by using starch emulsion), any convective motions become an internal mode without net horizontal transport. If the bottom is non-slip, however, convective motions generally have a dominant barotropic component.