Tsunamis and Hurricanes (eBook)

The author Ferdinand Cap is Professor Emeritus for Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He holds a MS and PhD (under the honourable auspices of the President of the Republic of Austria) and was awarded the Rutherford Medal of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. His career includes serving as assistant to Erwin Schroedinger, Senior Research Associate at NASA and the University of Princeton, NJ, Plasma Laboratory. He has been guest or visiting Professor at leading institutions around the world including the USA, Russia, South Africa, Japan, India and nearly all European countries. He specializes in hydrodynamics and plasma physics as well as mathematical methods in physics and engineering, and has written several textbooks in these fields.  

Preface 5
Contents 6
1. Introduction to wave physics 7
1.1 Types of waves 7
1.2 Linear wave equations 14
1.3 Solutions of linear wave equations 18
1.4 Nonlinear wave equations 26
1.5 Physics of nonlinear wave equations 31
2. Basic flow equations 36
2.1 Units and properties of substances 36
2.2 Conservation of mass 41
2.3 The equation of motion 43
2.4 Conservation of energy 49
2.5 Thermodynamics 52
2.6 Vorticity theorems 62
2.7 Potential flow in incompressible fluids 65
2.8 Potential flow in compressible fluids 69
2.9 The Darboux solution of plane waves in non- dissipative gases 77
2.10 The equivalence theorem 85
3. Water waves 96
3.1 The variety of water waves 96
3.2 Gravity water waves 104
3.3 Capillarity waves 114
3.4 Solitons 116
3.5 Dissipationless tsunamis 127
3.6 Wave equation for dissipative tsunamis 148
3.7 The tsunami wave equations 159
4. Hurricanes 168
4.1 Terminology and basics 168
4.2 The excitation of vorticity in cyclones 171
4.3 Mathematical modelling of cyclones 177
4.4 Multifluid cyclone modelling 182
References 186
Index 197