Nonlinear dynamics of rotating shallow water: methods and advances

The rotating shallow water (RSW) model is of wide use as a conceptual tool in geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD), because, in spite of its simplicity, it contains all essential ingredients of atmosphere and ocean dynamics at the synoptic scale, especially in its two- (or multi-) layer version. The book describes recent advances in understanding (in the framework of RSW and related models) of some fundamental GFD problems, such as existence of the slow manifold, dynamical splitting of fast (inertia-gravity waves) and slow (vortices, Rossby waves) motions, nonlinear geostrophic adjustment and wa