Large-scale Flow Dynamics Lab
This MIT OpenCourseWare lab pairs with 12.803, Quasi-balanced Circulations in Oceans and Atmospheres, and gives students hands-on tools for studying large-scale rotating flows. Coursework combines analysis of real oceanic and atmospheric observations with computational models and rotating tank experiments that physically reproduce the flows being studied. Student projects walk through potential vorticity conservation and inversion, Rossby wave propagation, baroclinic instability, and the behavior of isolated vortices, connecting the mathematics of geophysical fluid dynamics to phenomena you can watch spin up in a tank of rotating water. The materials, published by MIT under its OpenCourseWare program, include the lab assignments and background readings needed to work through the exercises independently, though there is no instructor feedback or certificate attached. It suits someone who has already studied quasi-balanced circulation theory and wants the applied, experimental counterpart, translating abstract fluid dynamics concepts into measurable rotating-tank results and observational data analysis.