Tag: DryTheory2JucyReality

Tilting frontal surface under rotation / cylinder collapse

June 16, 2020

Torge and I are planning to run the “tilting of a frontal surface under rotation / cylinder collapse” experiment as “remote kitchen oceanography” in his class on Thursday, so I’ve…

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Rotating vs non-rotating turbulence

June 9, 2020

Last Thursday, Torge & I invited his “atmosphere & ocean dynamics class” to a virtual excursion into my kitchen — to do some cool experiments. As you know, I have…

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A common misconception in rotating tank experiments, and one way of maybe not reinforcing it

June 5, 2020

A very common misconception when looking at atmosphere & ocean dynamics in a rotating tank is that the center of the tank represents one of the poles and the edge…

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Solid body rotation

May 30, 2020

Several of my friends were planning on teaching with DIYnamics rotating tables right now. Unfortunately, that’s currently impossible. Fortunately, though, I have one at home and enjoy playing with it enough…

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Thermal forcing vs rotation tank experiments in more detail than you ever wanted to know

May 25, 2020

This is the long version of the two full “low latitude, laminar, tropical Hadley circulation” and “baroclinic instability, eddying, extra-tropical circulation” experiments. A much shorter version (that also includes the…

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Thermal forcing vs rotation

May 23, 2020

The first experiment we ever ran with our DIYnamics rotating tank was using a cold beer bottle in the center of a rotating tank full or lukewarm water. This experiment is…

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Ekman layers in my kitchen

May 21, 2020

Several of my friends were planning on teaching with DIYnamics rotating tables right now. Unfortunately, that’s currently impossible. Fortunately, though, I have one at home and enjoy playing with it enough…

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Rossby-#WaveWatchingWednesday

May 20, 2020

Several of my friends were planning on teaching with DIYnamics rotating tables right now. Unfortunately, that’s currently impossible. Fortunately, though, I have one at home and enjoy playing with it enough…

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A recent seminar presentation on “one should really play more!” and our rotating tanks

January 24, 2020

Using “One should really play more!” as title of a presentation in a serious scientific colloquium might seem like a bold move, but the gamble payed off: a large, interested…

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Playing for #FlumeFriday

January 17, 2020

Yesterday, we’ve had four rotating tables operating simultaneously, for three different experiments. The one that everybody is gathering around in the picture above is our favourite experiment: a slowly rotating…

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New rotating table on #FlumeFriday! Welcome to the family!

January 10, 2020

In addition to our four DIYnamics-inspired rotating tanks, we now have a highly professional rotating table with SO MANY options! And also so much unboxing and constructing and trouble-shooting to…

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Rotating tank experiments on a cone

November 29, 2019

I had so much fun playing with rotating tank experiments on a cone this afternoon! And with Torge Martin (who I have the awesome #DryTheory2JuicyReality project with) and Rolf Käse…

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Thermal forcing in a non-rotating vs rotating case: Totally different results

November 23, 2019

On Thursday, I wrote about the thermally driven overturning circulation experiment that Torge and I did as past of our “dry theory 2 juicy reality” experiments, and mentioned that it…

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Salt fingers in my overturning experiment

November 22, 2019

You might have noticed them in yesterday’s thermally driven overturning video: salt fingers! In the image below you see them developing in the far left: Little red dye plumes moving…

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Thermally driven overturning circulation

November 21, 2019

Today was the second day of tank experiments in Torge’s and my “dry theory 2 juicy reality” teaching innovation project. While that project is mainly about bringing rotating tanks into…

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If one rotating table is awesome, four rotating tables are…?

October 24, 2019

I’m actually at a loss for words. Amazing? Spectacular? So much fun? All of that! Today was the first time Torge and I tried our four DIYnamics-inspired rotating tables in…

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Planetary Rossby waves on Beta-plane. A super easy tank experiment!

September 13, 2019

This is seriously one of the easiest tank experiments I have ever run! And I have been completely overthinking it for the last couple of weeks. Quick reminder: This is…

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Taylor column in a rotating tank

September 11, 2019

For both of my tank experiment projects, in Bergen and in Kiel, we want to develop a Taylor column demonstration. So here are my notes on the setup we are…

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Rossby waves in a rotating tank — three different demonstrations

September 10, 2019

For both of my tank experiment projects, in Bergen and in Kiel, we want to develop a Rossby wave demonstration. So here are my notes on three setups we are…

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Spin down — lots of shear instabilities in our tank!

August 30, 2019

When you stop a rotating tank, lots of stuff happens and it is usually very impressive to watch. Sometimes we stop tanks on purpose to show for example the development…

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Parabolic surface shape of a tank of water in solid body rotation

August 29, 2019

One of the first exercises Torge and I plan on doing with the students in our “dry theory to juicy reality” project is to bring a water-filled tank to solid body…

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Rotating vs non-rotating turbulence — now with movie!

August 27, 2019

Lots of demonstrations being prepared for Torge’s and my “dry theory to juicy reality” project. Shown here today: rotating vs non-rotating turbulence. Because the only way to really appreciate how…

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Spinning dye curtain — when a tank full of water has not reached solid body rotation yet

August 26, 2019

With all the rotating tank experiments I’ve been showing lately, one thing that comes up over and over again is the issue of solid body rotation. On our DIYnamics-inspired turntable for…

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Baroclinic instabilities / Hadley cell circulation in a tank

August 23, 2019

The DIYnamics-inspired turntable that Torge and myself have been working on for our “dry theory to juicy reality” project is finally working well! This is what the setup now looks…

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Combining rotation of a water tank with a temperature gradient: A Hadley cell circulation demo!

August 15, 2019

Yesterday, we combined a thermally-driven overturning circulation with the effects of rotation, and thus created a Hadley cell circulation. And while the tank was turning faster than we would have…

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Combining a slowly rotating water tank with a temperature gradient: A thermal wind demonstration!

August 14, 2019

Setting up an overturning circulation in a tank is easy, and also interpreting the observations is fairly straightforward. Just by introducing cooling on one side of a rectangular tank a…

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Why do we need a rotating tank to study ocean and atmosphere dynamics? A demonstration

August 13, 2019

For our project “Ocean currents in a tank: From dry theory to juicy reality“, Torge, Joke and I are working on building affordable rotating tanks to use in Torge’s Bachelor…

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Demonstrating Ekman layers in a rotating tank: High pressure and low pressure systems!

August 11, 2019

Ekman spirals — current profiles that rotate their direction over depth, caused by friction and Coriolis force — are really neat to observe in a rotating tank. I just found…

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Funded! “Ocean currents in a tank: from dry theory to juicy reality”

July 9, 2019

Remember how Joke, Torge and I were working on building an affordable, home-made rotating tank to use in ocean dynamics teaching only last weekend? That session was inspired by a proposal that…

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Working on our own affordable rotating table for oceanographic experiments!

July 6, 2019

Inspired by the article “Affordable Rotating Fluid Demonstrations for Geoscience Education: the DIYnamics Project” by the Hill et al. (2018), Joke, Torge and I have been wanting to build an affordable…

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My first attempt at building a rotating table for kitchen oceanography using LEGO

January 27, 2019

Inspired by the article “Affordable Rotating Fluid Demonstrations for Geoscience Education: the DIYnamics Project” by the Hill et al. (2018), I spent a fun Sunday afternoon with my friends Joke and…

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