We show that rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection, where a rotating fluid is heated from below, exhibits a non-Hermitian topological invariant. Recently, Favier & Knobloch (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 895, 2020, R1) hypothesized that the robust sidewall modes in rapidly rotating convection are topologically protected. By considering a Berry curvature defined in the complex wavenumber space, we reveal that the bulk states can be characterized by a non-zero integer Chern number, implying a potential topological origin of the edge modes based on the Atiyah–Patodi–Singer index theorem (Fukaya et al., Phys. Rev. D, vol. 96 2017, 125004; Yu et al., Nucl. Phys. B, vol. 916, 2017, pp. 550–566). The linearized eigenvalue problem is intrinsically non-Hermitian, therefore, the definition of Berry curvature generalizes that of the stably stratified problem. Moreover, the three-dimensional set-up naturally regularizes the eigenvector, avoiding the compactification problem in shallow water waves (Tauber et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 868, 2019, R2). Under the hydrostatic approximation, it recovers a two-dimensional analogue of the one which explains the topological origin of the equatorial Kelvin and Yanai waves (Delplace et al., Science, vol. 358, issue 6366, 2017, pp. 1075–1077). The non-zero Chern number relies only on rotation when the fluid is stratified, no matter whether it is stable or unstable. However, the neutrally stratified system does not support a topological invariant. In addition, we define a winding number to visualize the topological nature of the fluid. Our results represent a step forward for the topologically protected states in convection, but the bulk-boundary correspondence requires a further direct analysis for proof, and the robustness of the edge states under varying boundary conditions remains a question to be answered.

Stratified wakes past an isolated conical seamount are simulated at a Froude number of $Fr = 0.15$ and Rossby numbers of $Ro = 0.15$, 0.75 and $\infty$. The wakes exhibit a Kármán vortex street, unlike their unstratified, non-rotating counterpart. Vortex structures are studied in terms of large-scale global modes, as well as spatially localised vortex evolution, with a focus on rotation effects. The global modes are extracted by spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD). For all three studied $Ro$ ranging from mesoscale, submesoscale and non-rotating cases, the frequency of the SPOD modes at different heights remains coupled as a global constant. However, the shape of the SPOD modes changes from slanted ‘tongues’ at zero rotation ($Ro=\infty$) to tall hill-height columns at strong rotation ($Ro=0.15$). A novel method for vortex centre tracking shows that, in all three cases, the vortices at different heights advect uniformly at approximately $0.9U_{\infty }$ beyond the near wake, consistent with the lack of variability of the global modes. Under system rotation, cyclonic vortices and anticyclonic vortices (AVs) present considerable asymmetry, especially at $Ro = 0.75$. The vorticity distribution as well as the stability of AVs are tracked downstream using statistics conditioned to the identified vortex centres. At $Ro=0.75$, intense AVs with relative vorticity up to $\omega _z/f_{c}=-2.4$ (where $\omega_z$ is the vertical vorticity and $f_c$ is the Coriolis frequency) are seen with small regions of instability and they maintain large $\omega _z/f_{c}$ magnitude in the far wake. Recent stability analysis that accounts for stratification and viscosity is found to improve on earlier criteria and show that these intense AVs are stable.

Turbulent convection in the interiors of the Sun and the Earth occurs at high Rayleigh numbers $Ra$, low Prandtl numbers $Pr$, and different levels of rotation rates. To understand the combined effects better, we study rotating turbulent convection for $Pr = 0.021$ (for which some laboratory data corresponding to liquid metals are available), and varying Rossby numbers $Ro$, using direct numerical simulations in a slender cylinder of aspect ratio 0.1; this confinement allows us to attain high enough Rayleigh numbers. We are motivated by the earlier finding in the absence of rotation that heat transport at high enough $Ra$ is similar between confined and extended domains. We make comparisons with higher aspect ratio data where possible. We study the effects of rotation on the global transport of heat and momentum as well as flow structures (a) for increasing rotation at a few fixed values of $Ra$, and (b) for increasing $Ra$ (up to $10^{10}$) at the fixed, low Ekman number $1.45 \times 10^{-6}$. We compare the results with those from unity $Pr$ simulations for the same range of $Ra$ and $Ro$, and with the non-rotating case over the same range of $Ra$ and low $Pr$. We find that the effects of rotation diminish with increasing $Ra$. These results and comparison studies suggest that for high enough $Ra$, rotation alters convective flows in a similar manner for small and large aspect ratios, so useful insights on the effects of high thermal forcing on convection can be obtained by considering slender domains.

This study explores precession-driven flows in a non-axisymmetric ellipsoid spinning around its medium axis. Using an experimental approach, we focus on two aspects of the flow: the base flow of uniform vorticity and the development of fluid instabilities. In contrast to a preceding paper (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 932, 2022, A24), where the ellipsoid rotated around its shortest axis, we do not observe bi-stability or hysteresis of the base flow, but a continuous transition from small to large differential rotation and tilt of the fluid rotation axis. We then use the model developed by Noir & Cébron (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 737, 2013, pp. 412–439) to numerically determine regions in the parameter space of axial and equatorial deformations for which bi-stability may exist. Concerning fluid instabilities, we use three independent observations to track the onset of both boundary layer and parametric instabilities. Our results clearly show the presence of a parametric instability, yet the exact nature of the underlying mechanism (conical shear layer instability, shear instability and elliptical instability) is not unambiguously identified. A coexisting boundary layer instability, although unlikely, cannot be ruled out based on our experimental data. To make further progress on this topic, a new generation of experiments at significantly lower Ekman numbers (ratio of rotation and viscous time scales) is clearly needed.

We investigate exact nonlinear waves on surfaces locally approximating the rotating sphere for two-dimensional inviscid incompressible flow. Our first system corresponds to a $\beta$-plane approximation at the equator, and the second to a $\gamma$ approximation, with the latter describing flow near the poles. We find exact wave solutions in the Lagrangian reference frame that cannot be written down in closed form in the Eulerian reference frame. The wave particle trajectories, contours of potential vorticity and Lagrangian mean velocity take relatively simple forms. The waves possess a non-trivial Lagrangian mean flow that depends on the amplitude of the waves and on a particle label that characterizes values of constant potential vorticity. The mean flow arises due to potential vorticity conservation on fluid particles. Solutions over the entire space are generated by assuming that the flow far from the origin is zonal and there is a region of uniform potential vorticity between this zonal flow and the waves. In the $\gamma$ approximation, a class of waves is found that, based on analogous solutions on the plane, we call Ptolemaic vortex waves. The mean flow of some of these waves, which we can describe in highly nonlinear scenarios due to the exact nature of the solutions, resembles polar jet streams. Several illustrative solutions are used as initial conditions in the fully spherical rotating Navier–Stokes equations, where integration is performed via the numerical scheme presented in Salmon & Pizzo (Atmosphere, vol. 14, issue 4, 2023, 747). The potential vorticity contours found from these numerical experiments vary between stable permanent progressive form and fully turbulent flows generated by wave breaking.

We use direct numerical simulations to study convection in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection in horizontally confined geometries of a given aspect ratio, with the walls held at fixed temperatures. We show that this arrangement is unconditionally unstable to flow that takes the form of wall-adjacent convection rolls. For wall temperatures close to the temperatures of the upper or lower boundaries, we show that the base state undergoes a Hopf bifurcation to a state comprised of spatiotemporal oscillations – ‘wall modes’ – precessing in a retrograde direction. We study the saturated nonlinear state of these modes, and show that the velocity boundary conditions at the upper and lower boundaries are crucial to the formation and propagation of the wall modes: asymmetric velocity boundary conditions at the upper and lower boundaries can lead to prograde wall modes, while stress-free boundary conditions at both walls can lead to wall modes that have no preferred direction of propagation.

We experimentally and numerically characterize rapidly rotating radiatively driven thermal convection, beyond the sole heat transport measurements reported by Bouillaut et al. (Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., vol. 118, 2021, e2105015118). Based on a suite of direct numerical simulations (DNS) and additional processing of the experimental data collected by Bouillaut et al. (Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., vol. 118, 2021, e2105015118), we report the simultaneous validation of the scaling predictions of the ‘geostrophic turbulence’ regime – the diffusivity-free or ‘ultimate’ regime of rapidly rotating convection – for the heat transport and the temperature fluctuations. Following such cross-validation between DNS and laboratory experiments, we further process the numerical data to validate the ‘geostrophic turbulence’ scaling predictions for the flow velocity and horizontal scale. Radiatively driven convection thus appears as a versatile set-up for the laboratory observation of the diffusivity-free regimes of various convective flows of geophysical and/or astrophysical interest.

Melt-front instabilities during the combustion of a spinning polymethylmethacrylate disk in air are investigated. Mainly straight rivulet-type flow patterns were found, though under certain conditions saw-tooth patterns were observed. The measured wavelengths of the instabilities agree with earlier theoretical predictions of driven contact-line instabilities.

Rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection denotes the convection between a warm plate and a cold plate in a rotating environment. It is a classic model for understanding convective vortices in the atmosphere and ocean. The influence of background rotation on fluid inertia breaks the symmetry between cyclones and anticyclones. Such a symmetry breaking could be represented by vorticity skewness, which still lacks a systematic theory. Rapidly rotating convection with stress-free boundaries and unit Prandtl number is a convenient starting point. The investigation starts from the convective onset stage, where the vortices grow stationarily. Asymptotic analysis shows that the volumetric vorticity skewness $S$ is produced by the interaction between the $n=0,1$ and $n=1,2$ vertical eigenmodes. The $n=0$ (barotropic) mode contributes positively to $S$ mainly by stretching the vertical relative vorticity, an ageostrophic effect. The $n=2$ mode makes a minor negative contribution to $S$ by preferentially intensifying the outflow over the inflow, a non-hydrostatic effect. The theory predicts $S$ to be proportional to the global Rossby number defined with the volumetric standard deviation of vorticity, ${Ro_g}$. The proportional factor does not depend on the Rayleigh and Ekman numbers, agreeing with direct numerical simulations. Then the system enters the equilibrium stage. The stretching of vertical vorticity still contributes to $S$ dominantly. At ${Ro_g}\gtrsim 0.5$, the emergent unsteady flow significantly suppresses the asymmetry between the inflow and outflow strength, and weakens its influence on $S$.

The linear stability of plane Couette–Poiseuille flow (CPF) is studied with the physical effects of stratification, rotation and viscosity all included for the first time together. With no stratification, two instability mechanisms are present due to the shear and rotation which, for the most part, do not interact as they favour different forms of two-dimensionality. However, there are some small parts of parameter space where new three-dimensional instability appears indicating that Rayleigh's criterion is also violated in parameter space beyond where shear instability is expected. No fully localised centrifugal instabilities can be found for CPF, but they are shown to exist if the base flow shear has a maximum in the domain (the base flow needs to be at least cubic in the cross-stream variable rather than just quadratic as in CPF). With stable stratification present, new instabilities are found due to the combined effects of stratification and rotation, but only some appear to be of the resonance-type associated with the strato-rotational instability. The other unstable branches are more accurately interpreted as a stratification-modified centrifugal instability. Three-dimensional versions of this violate Rayleigh's criterion even when this is extended to include stratification. When stratification is stronger than rotation, the resonance-type instabilities are only dominant for cyclonic flows.

The linear stability of the Stuart vortices, which is a model of arrays of vortices often observed in the atmosphere and the oceans, in rotating stratified fluids is investigated by local and modal stability analysis. As in the case of the two-dimensional (2-D) Taylor–Green vortices, five types of instability appear in general: the pure-hyperbolic instability, the strato-hyperbolic instability, the rotational-hyperbolic instability, the centrifugal instability and the elliptic instability. The condition for each instability and the estimate of the growth rate derived by Hattori & Hirota (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 967, 2023, A32) are shown to also be useful for the Stuart vortices, which supports their applicability to general flows. The properties of each instability depend on stratification and rotation in a way similar to the case of the 2-D Taylor–Green vortices. For the Stuart vortices, however, the centrifugal instability and the elliptic instability become more dominant than the three hyperbolic instabilities in comparison to the 2-D Taylor–Green vortices; this is explained by the larger ratios of the maximum vorticity and the strain rate at the elliptic stagnation points to the strain rate at the hyperbolic stagnation points. Direct correspondence between the modal and local stability results is further established by comparing unstable modes to solutions to the local stability equations; this is useful for identifying the types of modes since the mechanism of instability is readily known in the local stability analysis. This helps us to discover the modes of the ring-type elliptic instability, which have been predicted only theoretically.

Detailed observations of the velocities of Jovian vortices exist at only one height in the atmosphere, so their vertical structures are poorly understood. This motivates this study that computes stable three-dimensional, long-lived planetary vortices that satisfy the equations of motion. We solve the anelastic equations with a high-resolution pseudo-spectral method using the observed Jovian atmospheric temperatures and zonal flow. We examine several families of vortices and find that constant-vorticity vortices, which have nearly uniform vorticity as a function of height, and horizontal areas that go to zero at their tops and bottoms, converge to stable vortices that look like the Great Red Spot (GRS) and other Jovian anticyclones. In contrast, the constant-area vortices proposed in previous studies, which have nearly uniform areas as a function of height, and vertical vorticities that go to zero at their tops and bottoms, are far from equilibrium, break apart, and converge to constant-vorticity vortices. Our late-time vortices show unexpected properties. Vortices that are initially non-hollow become hollow (i.e. have local minima of vertical vorticity at their centres), which is a feature of the GRS that cannot be explained with two-dimensional simulations. The central axes of the final vortices align with the planetary spin axis even if they align initially with the local direction of gravity. We present scaling laws for how vortex properties change with the Rossby number and other non-dimensional parameters. We prove analytically that the horizontal mid-plane of a stable vortex must lie at a height above the top of the convective zone.

A new model of the steady boundary layer flow around a rotating sphere is developed that includes the widely observed collision and subsequent eruption of boundary layers at the equator. This is derived following the Segalini & Garrett (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 818, 2017, pp. 288–318) asymptotic approach for large Reynolds numbers but replacing the Smith & Duck (Q. J. Mech. Appl. Maths, vol. 30, issue 2, 1977, pp. 143–156) correction with a higher-order version of the Stewartson (Grenzschichtforschung/Boundary Layer Research, 1958, pp. 59–71. Springer) model of the equatorial flow. The Stewartson model is then numerically solved, for the first time, via a geometric multigrid method that solves the steady planar Navier–Stokes equations in streamfunction-vorticity form on large rectangular domains in a quick and efficient manner. The results are then compared with a direct numerical simulation of the full unsteady problem using the Semtex software package where it is found that there is broad qualitative agreement, namely the separation and reattachment of the boundary layer at the equator. However, the presence of unobserved behaviour such as a large area of reverse flow seen at lower Reynolds numbers than those observed in other studies, and that the absolute error increases with Reynolds number suggest the model needs improvement to better capture the physical dynamics.

We investigate the linear stability analysis of rotating electro-osmotic flow in confined and unconfined configurations by appealing to the Debye–Hückel approximation. Pertaining to flow in confined and unconfined domains, the stability equations are solved using the Galerkin method to obtain the stability picture. Both qualitative and quantitative aspects of Ekman spirals are examined in stable and unstable scenarios within the unconfined domain. Within the confined domain, the variation of the real growth rate and the transition to instability are analysed using the modified Routh–Hurwitz criteria, employed for the first time in this context. The stability of the underlying flow, characterized by the number of roots with a positive real part, is determined by establishing a Routhian table. The inferences of this analysis show that the velocity plane produces intriguing closed Ekman spirals, which diminish in size with an increase in the rotation speed $\omega$. The Ekman spirals in the stable region exhibit a distinct discontinuity, indicating the dissipation of disturbances over time. In the confined domain, the flow appears consistently stable for a set of involved parameters pertinent to this analysis, such as electrokinetic parameter $K=1.5$ and rotational parameter $\omega$ approximately up to $6$. However, the flow instabilities become evident for $K=1.5$ and $\omega \geq 6$.

We perform a linear stability analysis of a finite-amplitude plane inertial wave (of frequency $\omega$ in the range $0\le \omega \le f$, where $f$ is the Coriolis frequency) by considering the inviscid evolution of three-dimensional (3-D), small-amplitude, short-wavelength perturbations. Characterizing the base flow plane inertial wave by its non-dimensional amplitude $A$ and the angle $\varPhi$ that its wavevector makes with the horizontal axis, the local stability equations are solved over the entire range of perturbation wavevector orientations. At sufficiently small $A$, 3-D parametric subharmonic instability (PSI) is the only instability mechanism, with the most unstable perturbation wavevector making an angle close to $60^{\circ }$ with the inertial wave plane. In addition, the most unstable perturbation is shear-aligned with the inertial wave in the inertial wave plane. Further, at large $\varPhi$, i.e. $\omega \approx f,$ there exists a wide range of perturbation wavevectors whose growth rate is comparable to the maximum growth rate. As $A$ is increased, theoretical PSI estimates become less relevant in describing the instability characteristics, and the dominant instability transitions to a two-dimensional (2-D) shear-aligned instability, which is shown to be driven by third-order resonance. The transition from 3-D PSI to a 2-D shear-aligned instability is shown to be reasonably captured by two different criteria, one based on the nonlinear time scale in the inertial wave and the other being a Rossby-number-based one.

The present work focuses on the effect of rough horizontal boundaries on the heat transfer in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection. We measure the non-dimensional heat transfer, the Nusselt number $Nu$, for various strengths of the buoyancy forcing characterized by the Rayleigh number $Ra$ (${10^5}\mathrm{\ \mathbin{\lower.3ex\hbox{$\buildrel< \over {\smash{\scriptstyle\sim}\vphantom{_x}}$}}\ }Ra\mathrm{\ \mathbin{\lower.3ex\hbox{$\buildrel< \over {\smash{\scriptstyle\sim}\vphantom{_x}}$}}\ }5 \times {10^8}$), and rotation rates characterized by the Ekman number E ($1.4 \times {10^{ - 5}}\mathrm{\ \mathbin{\lower.3ex\hbox{$\buildrel< \over {\smash{\scriptstyle\sim}\vphantom{_x}}$}}\ }E\mathrm{\ \mathbin{\lower.3ex\hbox{$\buildrel< \over {\smash{\scriptstyle\sim}\vphantom{_x}}$}}\ }7.6 \times {10^{ - 4}}$) for aspect ratios $\varGamma \approx 1$, $2.8$ and $6.7$. Similar to rotating convection with smooth horizontal boundaries, the so-called rotationally constrained (RC), rotation-affected (RA) and rotation-unaffected (RuA) regimes of heat transfer seem to persist for rough horizontal boundaries. However, the transition from the RC regime to RA regime occurs at a lower Rayleigh number for rough boundaries. For all experiments with rough boundaries in this study, the thermal and Ekman boundary layers are in a perturbed state, leading to a significant enhancement in the heat transfer as compared with that for smooth walls. However, the enhancement in heat transfer due to wall roughness is observed to attain a maximum in the RC regime. We perform companion direct numerical simulations of rotating convection over smooth walls to suggest a phenomenology explaining this observation. We propose that the heat transfer enhancement due to wall roughness reaches a maximum when the strength and coherence of the columnar structures are both significant, which enables efficient vertical transport of the additional thermal anomalies generated by the roughness at the top and bottom walls.

We revisit the problem of a solid sphere rising slowly in a rotating short container filled with a slightly viscous fluid, with emphasis on the drag force. The data of the classical experiments of Maxworthy (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 31, 1968, pp. 643–655) and recent experiments of Kozlov et al. (Fluids, vol. 8 (2), 2023, paper 49), and the available geostrophic and quasi-geostrophic theories, are subjected to a novel scrutiny by combined reprocessing and comparisons. The measured drag is, consistently, about 20 % lower than the geostrophic prediction (assuming that flow is dominated by the Ekman layers, while in the inviscid cores the Coriolis acceleration is supported by the pressure gradient). The major objective is the interpretation and improvement of the gap between data and predictions. We show that the data cover a small range of relevant parameters (in particular the Taylor number $T$ and the height ratio $H$ of cylinder to particle diameter) that precludes a thorough and reliable assessment of the theories. However, some useful insights and improvements can be derived. The hypothesis that the discrepancy between data and the geostrophic prediction is due to inertial effects (not sufficiently small Rossby number $Ro$ in the experiments) is dismissed. We show that the major reason for the discrepancy is the presence of relatively thick Stewartson layers about the cylinder (Taylor column) attached to the sphere. The $1/3$ layer displaces the boundary condition of the angular velocity ($\omega = 0$) outside the radius of the particle. This observation suggests a semi-empirical correction to the theoretical quasi-geostrophic predictions (which takes into account the Ekman layers and the $1/4$ Stewartson layers); the corrected drag is in fair agreement with the data. We demonstrate that the inertial terms are negligible for $Ro\,T^{1/2} <0.4$. We consider curve-fit approximations, and point out some persistent gaps of knowledge that require further experiments and simulations.

Using direct numerical simulations, we investigate the heat transport in bulk and boundary flows separately in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection in cylindrical cells. In the bulk we observe a steep scaling relationship between the Nusselt number ($Nu$) and the Rayleigh number ($Ra$), which is consistent with the results from simulations using periodic boundary conditions. For the boundary flow, we observe a power law $Nu_{BF}\sim (Ra/Ra_w)^1$ at the leading order, where $Nu_{BF}$ is the local Nusselt number of the boundary flow and $Ra_w$ is the onset Rayleigh number of the wall mode. We develop a model using the boundary layer marginal stability theory to explain this power law, and further show that a more precise description of the data can be obtained if a higher-order correction is introduced. A striking finding of our study is the observation of a sharp transition in flow state, manifested by a sudden drop in $Nu_{BF}$ with a corresponding collapse of the boundary flow coherency. After the transition, the boundary flow breaks into vortices, leading to a reduction in flow coherency and heat transport efficiency. As the physical properties of the vortices should not depend on the aspect ratio, $Nu_{BF}$ for all aspect ratios collapse together after the transition. Moreover, the centrifugal force helps trigger the breakdown of the coherent boundary flow state. For this reason, $Nu_{BF}$ for the cases with non-zero centrifugal force collapse together. We further develop a method that enables us to separate the contributions from the bulk and boundary flows in the global Nusselt number using only the global $Nu$ and it does not require the centrifugal force to be absent.

We investigate the spatial distribution and dynamics of the vortices in rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a reduced Rayleigh number range $1.3\le Ra/Ra_{c}\le 83.1$. Under slow rotations ($Ra\approx 80\,Ra_{c}$), the vortices are distributed randomly, which is manifested by the size distribution of the Voronoi cells of the vortex centres being a standard $\varGamma$ distribution. The vortices exhibit Brownian-type horizontal motion in the parameter range $Ra\gtrsim 10\,Ra_{c}$. The probability density functions of the vortex displacements are, however, non-Gaussian at short time scales. At modest rotating rates ($4\,Ra_{c}\le Ra\lesssim 10\,Ra_{c}$), the centrifugal force leads to radial vortex motions, i.e. warm cyclones (cold anticyclones) moving towards (outwards from) the rotation axis. The horizontal scale of the vortices decreases with decreasing $Ra/Ra_c$, and the size distribution of their Voronoi cells deviates from the $\varGamma$ distribution. In the rapidly rotating regime ($1.6\,Ra_{c}\le Ra\le 4\,Ra_{c}$), the vortices are densely distributed. The hydrodynamic interaction of neighbouring vortices results in the formation of vortex clusters. Within clusters, cyclones exhibit inverse-centrifugal motion as they submit to the outward motion of the strong anticyclones, and the radial velocity of the anticyclones is enhanced. The radial mobility of isolated vortices, scaled by their vorticity strength, is shown to be a simple power function of the Froude number. For all flow regimes studied, we show that the number of vortices with a lifespan greater than $t$ decreases exponentially as $\exp ({-t/{\tau }})$ for large time, where $\tau$ represents the characteristic lifetime of long-lived vortices.

Following our previous work on periodic ray paths (He et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 939, 2022, A3), we study asymptotically and numerically the structure of internal shear layers for very small Ekman numbers in a three-dimensional spherical shell and in a two-dimensional cylindrical annulus when the rays converge towards an attractor. We first show that the asymptotic solution obtained by propagating the self-similar solution generated at the critical latitude on the librating inner core describes the main features of the numerical solution. The internal shear layer structure and the scaling for its width and velocity amplitude in $E^{1/3}$ and $E^{1/12}$, respectively, are recovered. The amplitude of the asymptotic solution is shown to decrease to $E^{1/6}$ when it reaches the attractor, as is also observed numerically. However, some discrepancies are observed close to the particular attractors along which the phase of the wave beam remains constant. Another asymptotic solution close to those attractors is then constructed using the model of Ogilvie (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 543, 2005, pp. 19–44). The solution obtained for the velocity has an $O(E^{1/6})$ amplitude, but a self-similar structure different from the critical-latitude solution. It also depends on the Ekman pumping at the contact points of the attractor with the boundaries. We demonstrate that it reproduces correctly the numerical solution. Surprisingly, the numerical solution close to an attractor with phase shift (that is, an attractor touching the axis in three or two dimensions with a symmetric forcing) is also found to be $O(E^{1/6})$, but its amplitude is much weaker. However, its asymptotic structure remains a mystery.