Towards a Theory of Barotropic Geostrophic Currents
Abstract
In this article, we examine barotropic geostrophic currents in a Cartesian and the polar coordinate system. The polar system is preferable for analysing geostrophic currents, since radial symmetry is intrinsic to these currents. We obtained ratios between the general hydrodynamic properties. The expressions of geostrophic current velocity components in terms of pressure were the most important among them. The procedure of deriving the expression of vorticity in terms of pressure was carried out. We determined that isobaths coincided with streamlines in stationary barotropic geostrophic currents. The radially symmetrical geostrophic current was studied in detail.