A long-wavelength fluctuation of a current in a fluid system having no divergence and subject to a Coriolis force; especially a lateral fluctuation of a jet stream, with wavelength comparable with the radius of the earth.
Origin
1950s.
Definition of Rossby wave in US English:
Rossby wave
noun
Physics Meteorology
A long-wavelength fluctuation of a current in a fluid system having no divergence and subject to a Coriolis force; especially a lateral fluctuation of a jet stream, with wavelength comparable with the radius of the earth.