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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2010
In this paper we carry out a linear stability analysis within the Stokes layer that, under suitable conditions, forms at the surface of a circular cylinder in periodic orbital motion. The analysis is related to that performed by Seminara [1,2] in the Stokes layer on a torsionally oscillating cylinder and by Hall [3] in the Stokes layer at the surface of a cylinder in purely oscillatory motion. In all cases we find that the minimum critical Taylor number is located where the flow at the edge of the Stokes layer has maximum speed in each period of the motion.