The quasi-geostrophic flow over an obstacle placed on the lower of two horizontal planes in rapid rotation about the vertical z axis is considered. The flow field is calculated in the limit of vanishing viscosity after assuming the flow far upstream of the obstacle to be uniform, of magnitude V. The effects that occur in homogeneous flow are compared with those that occur in stratified flow.

If the flow is homogeneous, there is a region of closed streamlines if \[ h_0R^{-1} > \min_r\left[r\left/\int_0^r xh(x)dx\right. \right], \] where the obstacle is assumed to be cylindrically symmetric and given by z = Hh0h(r/L), H is the distance between the planes and R is the Rossby number V/(fL). For any obstacle the right-hand side of (1) is greater than zero and hence h0 must be positive for a closed-streamline region to occur. It is argued, and illustrated by a particular example, that because (1) involves an integral of h(x) a representative flow pattern can be obtained for obstacles of less than critical height by considering the special case of a flat-topped obstacle, as is done by Ingersoll (1969).

If the flow is stratified with constant Brunt-Väisälä frequency N, the condition for the existence of closed streamlines is shown to be \[ h_0R^{-1} > \min_r \left[B\int_0^{\infty}\int_0^{\infty}xt\cot h(Bt)h(x)J_0(tx)J_1(tr)\,dt\,dx \right]^{-1}, \] where B = NH/fL. In contrast to the homogeneous situation, the right-hand side of (2) can be zero and is so if the obstacle is somewhere vertical. Such obstacles will produce a closed-streamline region no matter now small their height and will hence not lead to patterns representative of smooth obstacles. This is because a stratified column of fluid cannot be stretched or compressed over an infinitesimal distance. Instead, the column bends markedly and the fluid flows around the obstacle. The critical conditions (1) and (2) for a number of specific obstacles are calculated and discussed.