Rotating hydraulics in deep-water channel flow

Rotating deep-water channel flow is considered. The concept of critical flow is redefined for “wide” channels (with depth variations across the channel) where strong variations of the interface height occur along the flow. Numerical solutions are obtained for the flow structure across the channel, and a criterion for the interior interface height upstream the channel as a function of prescribed flow is presented. The solutions are compared to hydrographic observations from the Bornholm Strait (within the Baltic) and the Faroe Bank Channel with encouraging results. The present theory allows for frictional effects within the channel, and the results differ qualitatively from earlier contributions to this subject.