Shilo, E., Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel
Ashkenazy, Y., Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Sede Boqer, Israel
Rimmer, A., Yigal Alon Kinneret Limnological Laboratory, Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Migdal, Israel
Assouline, S., Department of Environmental Physics and Irrigation, Instituted of Soils, Water and Environment Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, Israel
Mahrer, Y., Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel

The association of topographic waves with wind action has been documented in several natural lakes throughout the world. However, the influence of the wind's spatial variability (wind stress curl) on the frequency of topographic waves has only been partially investigated. Here the role of wind stress curl on the frequency of topographic waves in an idealized elliptic paraboloid basin has been studied both analytically and numerically. It is shown that the analytical solution is the sum of an elliptic rotation determined by the wind stress curl and two counterrotating circulation cells, which propagate cyclonically after the wind ceases. Furthermore, it is shown that cyclonic elliptical rotation (associated with positive wind stress curl) increases the rotation frequency of the double-gyre pattern while anticyclonic elliptical rotation (associated with negative wind stress curl) decreases the oscillatory mode frequency. It is also shown that bottom friction has some effect on the structure of the double-gyre pattern but hardly affects the oscillatory frequency. Numerical solutions of the depth-integrated nonlinear shallow-water equations confirmed that the frequency of the topographic wave increases (decreases) when forcing the model with cyclonic (anticyclonic) wind curl. © 2008 American Meteorological Society.