Nonlinear hydrodynamic modeling: A mathematical introduction (Q1104159)

This monograph is based on the manuscript written in a graduate meteorology seminar on nonlinear hydrodynamics at The Pennsylvania State University in the fall of 1984. It provides an introduction to the nonlinear analysis of solutions to hydrodynamic models in the atmospheric sciences. Low-order modeling is the main tool in studies. The chapters are divided into four main groups: i) the basic concepts of modeling and the creation, development, and analysis of nonlinear models; ii) time-independent, or stationary, solutions to the models; iii) the behavior of temporally periodic solutions; iv) more complicated temporal flows and the analysis of their properties. The chapters are: 1. Modeling: A Strategy for understanding; 2. A Simple nonlinear model of convection; 3. From the equations of motion to spectral models; 4. Linear stability analysis; 5. Bifurcation analysis of stationary solutions; 6. Typical branching forms: Stationary solutions; 7. The expected branching solution: Preferred wavelengths; 8. Identifying crucial parameters with contact catastrophe theory; 9. Hierarchies of transitions: Secondary branching; 10. Alexander-Yorke continuation: Numerically finding all the stationary solutions in a spectral model; 11. Typical branching forms: Periodic solutions; 12. The expected branching solution: Preferred wavelengths and orientations; 13. On computing the branching direction of bifurcating periodic solutions; 14. Bifurcation analysis of periodic solutions; 15. The transition to turbulence; 16. Diagnosing the structures of attractors; 17. Introduction to topological hydrodynamics; 18. Modeling and metamodeling.