A Derivation of the Buoyancy Frequency

Equations of motion for a displaced fluid parcel

Consider a stratified fluid (i.e., a fluid with density that varies in the vertical direction). Now
consider an infinitesimal parcel of water that is displaced some tiny vertical distance from an
initial position z
0
. The vertical acceleration of the parcel is given by the second derivative of its
displacement
t
2

[ m = s
2
].
The only force (per unit mass) acting on the parcel is reduced gravity
g 0 = g
(z
0
)
(z
0
) (z
0
+ )
[ m = s
2
] , which acts in the negative z -direction and
arises because of Archimedes principle. The parcel (initially at z
0
) has fluid with density
(z
0
) and when it moves to a new position it displaces fluid with density (z
0
+ ). If
the parcel is heavier than its new surroundings (-g 0 < 0 ) the parcel is accelerated downward. If
the parcel is lighter than its new surroundings (-g 0 > 0 ) the parcel is accelerated upward.
Using Newtons second law (force equals mass times acceleration) we can write the equation
that determines the vertical displacement of the parcel as:
t
2

= g
(z
0
)
(z
0
) (z
0
+ )
,
where we have implicitly divided by the unspecified mass of the parcel.
The Boussinesq Approximation
In most environmental fluid flows, the density of water is 10 2 0 2 0 [ k g = m
3
]. Therefore,
one may generally approximate the density of water as =
0
= 10 0 0 [k g = m
3
]. This
approximation is very good when calculating momentum, mass flux, and kinetic energy because
including a few extra k g = m
3
only changes these calculation by about 2%. However, it is
inadequate to approximate density as a constant when calculating reduced gravity or potential
energy in a stratified fluid because buoyancy effects in water arise due to small differences in
large densities. The Boussinesq approximation simplifies" the equations of motion by using a
constant density except when small changes in density give rise to reduced gravity or potential
energy. For example, using the Boussinesq approximation we may rewrite reduced gravity as
g 0 = g
(z
0
)
(z
0
) (z
0
+ )
= g

0
(z
0
) (z
0
+ )
where
0
= 10 0 0 [k g = m
3
]. We cannot substitute
0
for either of the density terms on the
top line because this expression depends on the exact difference between (z
0
) and
(z
0
+ ).
Taylor expansion of the reduced gravity
Now, we can approximate (z
0
+ ) by using a Taylor expansion, which is used to estimate
the value of a function a short distance from a known value. For example, if the functionf (x )
and all of its derivatives are known at x
0
(i.e., f (x
0
);
x
f
j
x = x
0 x
2

2
f
j
x= x
0
, etc... are all
known) then the value of f at x
0
+ x is approximately
f (x
0
+ x ) = f (x
0
) + x
x
f
j
x = x
0
+
2
1
x
2
x
2

2
f
j
x = x
0
+ O ( x
3
).
That is f (x
0
+ x ) is just the value of f at x
0
plus a string of corrections based on the local
derivatives of f . If x is small then x
2
is very small and x
3
is even smaller (e.g., try
x = 0 :1). Therefore, for small x , we will neglect all but the first-order terms of x .
Returning to our function of density, we can approximate the density of the fluid displaced by
the parcel after moving a small distance as
(z
0
+ ) = (z
0
) +
z

j
z = z
0
Plugging this approximation into the acceleration equation produces
t
2

=

0
g
z

,
which can be written
t
2

= N
2
(1)
where the buoyancy frequency is defined
N =
r


0
g
z

h
s
1
i
.
Equation 1 is a second-order ordinary differential equation. It has solutions of the form
= A e
iN t
+ B e
iN t
,
where A and B are arbitrary amplitudes. If we allow N to be complex, it may be written as the
sum of a real and imaginary part N = ! + i . Therefore, can be rewritten as:
= A e
i! t
e
t
+ B e
i! t
e
t
.
Next we can use Eulers formula
e
i! t
= c o s(! t ) + i sin (! t),
which links imaginary exponentials to sine and cosine, to further expand our solution for :
= A [c o s(! t ) + i s in (! t )] e
t
+ B [c o s (! t ) i sin (! t)] e
t
.
Finally, because is displacement, it must be a real number, so the general solution for can be
reduced to
= A c o s(! t ) e
t
+ B c o s (! t ) e
t
A fundamental aspect of the solution for is that, if the buoyancy frequency, N , is real (i.e.,
N = ! ), the displacement oscillates like a cosine, and if N is imaginary (i.e., N = i ), the
displacement grows like an exponential. Oscillations are waves and exponential growth is
referred to as instability.
Oscillations when
z

< 0
In environmental flows N is almost always real because density is stably stratified, meaning
light water is located above heavy water (i.e.,
z

< 0 ). The name buoyancy frequency is
natural because the displaced fluid parcel oscillates up and down around its equilibrium position
z
0
at frequency N = ! , i.e.,
= A c o s (N t )
(plug this into the acceleration equation to check that it is a solution for ). The oscillations have
the highest frequency when
z

is very negative (i.e., where very light fluid is on top of very
heavy fluid, or where light fluid transitions to heavy fluid over a very small vertical distance).
Instability when
z

> 0
If, for a moment, a fluid is unstably stratified and heavy water is above light water (i.e.,
z

> 0 ), N is imaginary because it is the square root of a negative number. In this case we
can define a growth rate as N = i (which is real because N is imaginary). The displaced
fluid parcel then deviates rapidly from its starting point, and the time evolution of its
displacement is
= A e
t
(again, plug this into the acceleration equation to check that it is a solution for ). In this case,
the fluid parcel sinks very rapidly (i.e. the amplitude A is negative), carrying dense fluid
downward and displacing light fluid upward, which helps to reduce
z

> 0 and restore the
fluid to stable stratification (i.e.,
z

< 0 ).