Waves and Wind-Driven Flows in the Ocean - Lecture 3

Explore the third lecture in a mini-course on waves and wind-driven flows in the ocean, delivered by Nathan Paldor at the Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematics and Physics (ESI). Delve into the fascinating world of Kelvin-Stuart vortices, classical mixing layer flows with wide-ranging applications in fluid mechanics, plasma physics, and planetary rings. Discover the nonlinear stability of these vortices for co-periodic perturbations and their linear instability for multi-periodic or modulational perturbations. Examine the appearance of Kelvin-Stuart cat's eyes as magnetic islands in magnetostatic equilibria for 2D ideal MHD equations in plasmas. Learn about the nonlinear stability of these magnetic islands for co-periodic perturbations and gain insights into the rigorous proof of the coalescence instability. This 1-hour 8-minute lecture was part of the Thematic Programme on "The Dynamics of Planetary-scale Fluid Flows" held at ESI from April 11 to June 2, 2023.