Beta spiral method
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
March 30, 2010, 12:00 am
June 12, 2012, 10:11 am
The Beta spiral method is an inverse process for determining the oceanic velocity field, where the motion is geostrophic and the potential vorticity locally balanced. This method provides a mechanism for determining the absolute geostrophic circulation fieldrather than merely the relative field.
| This article is written at a definitional level only. Authors wishing to expand this entry are inivited to expand the present treatment, which additions will be peer reviewed prior to publication of any expansion. |
Further Reading
- G.Bigg. The beta spiral method Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers, vol. 32, issue 4, pp. 465-484
- F. A. Schott and H. Stommel. Beta spirals and absolute velocities from different oceans. Deep Sea Res., 25: 961–1010, 1978.
