Baroclinic instability of large-scale ocean currents as a source of intensive open ocean mesoscale eddies

Generation of ocean mesoscale eddies due to baroclinic instability of large-scale currents in under consideration. Analysis in carried out on the basis of a numerical model of a two-layer quasigeostrophic ocean in a zonal channel on the beta-plane. Attention is paid mainly to the relation between kinetic energy of disturbances and the mean current. Influence of different physical factors (level of supercriticality, bottom topography, external force nonstationatiry) on the level of mature baroclinic disturbances was investigated. It is shown, that intensity of mesoscale disturbances can be much larger than that of the mean current for a long period of time (hundreds of days and more).