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Stability of propagating plane inertial waves in rotating fluids

Valentin Skoutnev*

Aurélie Astoul† and Adrian J. Barker‡

  • Physics Department and Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, 538 West 120th Street, New York, New York 10027, USA

  • *Contact author: valentinskoutnev@gmail.com
  • †Present address: IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 14 Avenue Édouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France.
  • ‡Contact author: a.j.barker@leeds.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 024802 – Published 11 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cj4y-ygk9

Abstract

Inertial waves transport energy and momentum in rotating fluids and are a major contributor to mixing and tidal dissipation in Earth's oceans, gaseous planets, and stellar interiors. However, their stability and breakdown mechanisms are not fully understood. We examine the linear stability and nonlinear breakdown of finite-amplitude propagating plane inertial waves using Floquet theory and direct numerical simulations. The Floquet analysis generalizes previous studies as it is valid for arbitrary perturbation wavelengths and primary wave amplitudes. We find that the wave vector orientation of the most unstable perturbations depends strongly on the wave frequency and weakly on the wave amplitude. The most unstable perturbations have wavelengths that are small relative to the primary wave wavelength for low wave amplitudes, but become comparable for large wave amplitudes. We then use direct numerical simulations to follow the nonlinear breakdown of the wave and examine how the wave energy is either dissipated in a forward cascade or accumulated into long-lived geostrophic modes. Simulations reveal that the conversion efficiency into geostrophic modes increases with increasing wave amplitude, as expected for pumping of geostrophic modes by nearly resonant triadic interactions. We also find that the conversion efficiency increases with decreasing primary wave frequency, which may be due to the more efficient coupling of quasi-2D waves to geostrophic modes. These results on the stability and breakdown of single plane inertial waves provide an additional foundation for understanding the role of inertial waves in rotating turbulence, transport properties of inertial wave beams, and inertial wave propagation in more complex environments such as those with magnetic fields or shear flows.

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 024802– Published 11 February, 2026
  • Received 25 September 2025
  • Accepted 8 January 2026
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