Baroclinic vortex pulsars in unstable westward flows
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Berloff, Pavel
Sutyrin, Georgi G
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We present a computational modeling study of geophysical coherent vortices embedded in horizontally homogeneous, baroclinically unstable, westward background flows with vertical shear. Within an idealized two-layer quasigeostrophic beta-plane model, we discovered two types of robust vortex-wave structures with distinct properties, which remain asymmetric and nonstationary in statistically-equilibrated turbulent flow regimes. The corresponding vortices, referred to as baroclinic vortex pulsars, are characterized by intense vorticity core coupled to the Rossby wave wake. The main conclusion — on the top of various analyses discussed in the paper — are that the vortex pulsars are fundamentally non-isolated coherent vortices, because they extract energy from the background circulation and expel excess potential vorticity, accumulating due to down-gradient material propagation, back into the environment. Both types may coexist as multiple statistically equilibrated states in some range of physical parameters, complicating any parameterization of eddy effects in climate-type models.
Date Issued
2024-11-01
Date Acceptance
2024-06-12
Citation
Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 2024, 467
ISSN
0167-2789
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena
Volume
467
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.1016/j.physd.2024.134263
Subjects
Baroclinic flows
COHERENT VORTICES
HETON
Mathematics
Mathematics, Applied
Nonlinear coherent vortices
Physical Sciences
Physics
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Physics, Mathematical
Physics, Multidisciplinary
PROPAGATION
Science & Technology
Seophysical fluid dynamics
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
134263
Date Publish Online
2024-06-22