Spin-up problems of stratified rotating flows inside containers

Rotating, stratified flows are important in a wide variety of both geophysical and engineering applications. Whilst 'steady state' flows of this type are generally very simple (in effect, rigid body rotation), the effect of abruptly altering (even a little) the rotation rate can induce significant temporal flow disruptions, made all the more complicated when the fluid is bounded inside a closed finite container, a problem studied both experimentally and theoretically by Foster & Munro (J. Fluid Mech., this issue, vol. 712, 2012, pp. 7-40).