Topographically Forced Rossby Wave Instability and the Development of Blocking in the Atmosphere

In this paper, the linear stability of disturbance superimposed on basic state Rossby wave forced by topography is investigated, and pointed out that when a certain criterion is satisfied by the basic flow and the height of topogra-phy for the subresonance, the small disturbance may be unstable. Furthermore, we also compare the evolution of the instability disturbance with the development of blocking in the Pacific, and we suggested that the topographically forced Rossby wave instability may provide a possible mechanism for the development of blocking in the Pacific.