Baroclinic

Baroclinic describes a stratified state in which surfaces of constant pressure and constant density intersect, so the density gradient has a component along pressure surfaces. The misalignment generates the solenoidal torque baroclinic vorticity production and lets potential energy convert to kinetic energy. Thermal-wind balance ties the vertical shear of the geostrophic current to horizontal density gradients in a baroclinic ocean. Baroclinic instability of sloping isopycnals is the main source of mesoscale eddies, the ocean equivalent of weather systems, with growth on the Rossby radius of deformation, order tens of kilometers at midlatitudes.