Initial and transient growth of symmetric instability

Abstract The mechanism of initial and transient perturbations of symmetric instability (SI) in a hydrostatic flow with lateral shear is analyzed by applying the generalized stability analysis. It is well known that the SI’s most rapidly growing motion is along isopycnals, and the growth rates consist of growing, neutral, and decaying modes. The eigenvectors of these 3 modes are not orthogonal to each other, hence the initial and transient perturbations bear little resemblance to the normal mode. Our findings indicate that the emergence of normal modes occurs within a time span of 1-3 inertial periods, which we refer to as the transient state. The overall growth of perturbation energy is divided into three components: geostrophic shear production (GSP), lateral shear production (LSP), and meridional buoyancy flux (MB). During the transient state, the perturbation energy is partly driven by MB, contrary to the normal mode which has zero MB. The relative energy contribution is evaluated through the ratio to GSP. While the MB to GSP ratio of the initial mode is higher than that of the normal mode, the LSP to GSP ratio remains constant. In the absence of the fastest-growing normal mode, MB can serve as the predominant initial energy source. The precise transition in the energy regime is contingent upon the geostrophic Richardson number and Rossby number.