Route to chaos and resonant triads interaction in a truncated rotating nonlinear shallow–water model

by Francesco Carbone, Denys Dutykh

The route to chaos and the phase dynamics of the large scales in a rotating shallow-water model have been rigorously examined through the construction of an autonomous five-mode Galerkin truncated system employing complex variables, useful in investigating how large/meso-scales are destabilized and how their dynamics evolves and transits to chaos. This investigation revealed two distinct transitions into chaotic behaviour as the level of energy introduced into the system was incrementally increased. The initial transition manifests through a succession of bifurcations that adhere to the established Feigenbaum sequence. Conversely, the subsequent transition, which emerges at elevated levels of injected energy, is marked by a pronounced shift from quasi-periodic states to chaotic regimes. The genesis of the first chaotic state is predominantly attributed to the preeminence of inertial forces in governing nonlinear interactions. The second chaotic state, however, arises from the augmented significance of free surface elevation in the dynamical process. A novel reformulation of the system, employing phase and amplitude representations for each truncated variable, elucidated that the phase components present a temporal piece-wise locking behaviour by maintaining a constant value for a protracted interval, preceding an abrupt transition characterised by a simple rotation of ±π, even as the amplitudes display chaotic behaviour. It was observed that the duration of phase stability diminishes with an increase in injected energy, culminating in the onset of chaos within the phase components at high energy levels. This phenomenon is attributed to the nonlinear term of the equations, wherein the phase components are introduced through linear combinations of triads encompassing disparate modes. When the locking durations vary across modes, the resultant dynamics is a stochastic interplay of multiple π phase shifts, generating a stochastic dynamic within the coupled phase triads, observable even at minimal energy injections.