Consider a layer of fluid of constant density $\rho$ and equilibrium depth $h_{0}$ in a rotating frame of reference, rotating at constant angular velocity $\Omega$ about the vertical $z$-axis. The equations of motion are

$$\begin{aligned} \frac{\partial u}{\partial t}-f v &=-\frac{1}{\rho} \frac{\partial p}{\partial x} \\ \frac{\partial v}{\partial t}+f u &=-\frac{1}{\rho} \frac{\partial p}{\partial y} \\ 0 &=-\frac{\partial p}{\partial z}-\rho g \end{aligned}$$

where $p$ is the fluid pressure, $u$ and $v$ are the fluid velocities in the $x$-direction and $y$ direction respectively, $f=2 \Omega$, and $g$ is the constant acceleration due to gravity. You may also assume that the horizontal extent of the layer is sufficiently large so that the layer may be considered to be shallow, such that vertical velocities may be neglected.

By considering mass conservation, show that the depth $h(x, y, t)$ of the layer satisfies

$$\frac{\partial h}{\partial t}+\frac{\partial}{\partial x}(h u)+\frac{\partial}{\partial y}(h v)=0 .$$

Now assume that $h=h_{0}+\eta(x, y, t)$, where $|\eta| \ll h_{0}$. Show that the (linearised) potential vorticity $\mathbf{Q}=Q \hat{\mathbf{z}}$, defined by

$$Q=\zeta-\eta \frac{f}{h_{0}}, \text { where } \zeta=\frac{\partial v}{\partial x}-\frac{\partial u}{\partial y}$$

and $\hat{\mathbf{z}}$ is the unit vector in the vertical $z$-direction, is a constant in time, i.e. $Q=Q_{0}(x, y)$.

When $Q_{0}=0$ everywhere, establish that the surface perturbation $\eta$ satisfies

$$\frac{\partial^{2} \eta}{\partial t^{2}}-g h_{0}\left(\frac{\partial^{2} \eta}{\partial x^{2}}+\frac{\partial^{2} \eta}{\partial y^{2}}\right)+f^{2} \eta=0$$

and show that this equation has wave-like solutions $\eta=\eta_{0} \cos [k(x-c t)]$ when $c$ and $k$ are related through a dispersion relation to be determined. Show that, to leading order, the trajectories of fluid particles for these waves are ellipses. Assuming that $\eta_{0}>0, k>0$, $c>0$ and $f>0$, sketch the fluid velocity when $k(x-c t)=n \pi / 2$ for $n=0,1,2,3$.