The drain current of InP MISPETs is often observed
to decrease as a function of time after the application of
a positive gate bias which involves an accumulation of
electrons in the channel. Various models have been
proposed for this drain current drift (DCD) phenomenon.
In this thesis, variable-temperature bias-stress...
When a stably stratified density interface is embedded in a region of strong velocity
shear, hydrodynamic instabilities result. Here we generalize the stratified shear layer
to allow an offset between the centre of the shear layer and the density interface. By
including this asymmetry, and keeping the density interface thin...
Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability, characterized by the distinctive finite-amplitude billows it generates, is an important mechanism in the development of turbulence in the stratified interior of the ocean. In particular, it is often assumed that the onset of turbulence in internal waves begins in this way. Clear recognition of the importance...
Aircraft data collected at the top of a cloud-topped mixed layer during the Air Mass Transformation Experiment are analyzed. Entrainment instability due to evaporation of liquid water is found to occur intermittently. This instability and upward heat flux occur frequently at the downstream edge of cloudy mixed-layer motions which have...
The stability of a coastal jet and front is investigated using the primitive
equations applied to a continuously stratified flow in geostrophic balance. A linear
stability analysis successfully explains the growth of two modes of instability with
distinctly different horizontal scales. A long-wavelength mode (fastest-growing
wavelength of 0(100 km)) is...
Model studies of two-dimensional, time-dependent, wind-forced, stratified downwelling circulation on the continental shelf have shown that the near-bottom offshore flow can develop time- and space-dependent fluctuations involving spatially periodic separation and reattachment of the bottom boundary layer and accompanying recirculation cells. Based primarily on the observation that the potential vorticity...
A new class of nearshore waves based on the shear instability of a steady longshore current is discussed. The dynamics depend on the conservation of potential vorticity but with the background vorticity field, traditionally the role of Coriolis in larger scale flows, supplied by the shear structure of the longshore...
Satellite measurements of sea-surface temperature (SST) by the TRMM Microwave Imager reveal previously unreported features of tropical instability waves (TIWs). In the Pacific, TIW-related variability is observed from the eastern boundary to at least 160°E. Cusp-shaped distortions of SST fronts and associated trains of anticyclonic vortices both north and south...
The linear theory of double diffusive interleaving is extended to take account of baroclinic effects. This study goes beyond previous studies by including the possibility of modes with nonzero tilt in the alongfront direction, which allows for advection by the baroclinic frontal flow. This requires that the stability equations be...
The nonlinear dynamics of finite amplitude shear instabilities of
alongshore currents in the nearshore surf zone over barred beach topography are
studied using numerical experiments. These experiments extend the recent study
of Allen et al. [1996], which utilized plane beach (constant slope) topography by
including shore-parallel sandbars. The model involves...
