  Transient growth due to non-normality is investigated for the Taylor-Couette
problem with counter-rotating cylinders as a function of aspect ratio eta and
Reynolds number Re. For all Re < 500, transient growth is enhanced by
curvature, i.e. is greater for eta < 1 than for eta = 1, the plane Couette
limit. For fixed Re < 130 it is found that the greatest transient growth is
achieved for eta between the Taylor-Couette linear stability boundary, if it
exists, and one, while for Re > 130 the greatest transient growth is achieved
for eta on the linear stability boundary. Transient growth is shown to be
approximately 20% higher near the linear stability boundary at Re = 310, eta =
0.986 than at Re = 310, eta = 1, near the threshold observed for transition in
plane Couette flow. The energy in the optimal inputs is primarily meridional;
that in the optimal outputs is primarily azimuthal. Pseudospectra are
calculated for two contrasting cases. For large curvature, eta = 0.5, the
pseudospectra adhere more closely to the spectrum than in a narrow gap case,
eta = 0.99.
