Zonal Jet Formation by Potential Vorticity Mixing at Large and Small Scales

Zonal Jets ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 238-246
Author(s):  
Richard K. Scott ◽  
David G. Dritschel
Keyword(s):  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Jet Formation ◽  
Small Scales

scholarly journals Jet Formation and Evolution in Baroclinic Turbulence with Simple Topography

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Length Scale ◽  
Reynolds Stresses ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Jet Formation ◽  
Meridional Transport ◽  
Jet Behavior ◽  
Jet Variability

Abstract Satellite altimetry and high-resolution ocean models indicate that the Southern Ocean comprises an intricate web of narrow, meandering jets that undergo spontaneous formation, merger, and splitting events, as well as rapid latitude shifts over periods of weeks to months. The role of topography in controlling jet variability is explored using over 100 simulations from a doubly periodic, forced-dissipative, two-layer quasigeostrophic model. The system is forced by a baroclinically unstable, vertically sheared mean flow in a domain that is large enough to accommodate multiple jets. The dependence of (i) meridional jet spacing, (ii) jet variability, and (iii) domain-averaged meridional transport on changes in the length scale and steepness of simple sinusoidal topographical features is analyzed. The Rhines scale, ℓβ = 2πVe/β, where Ve is an eddy velocity scale and β is the barotropic potential vorticity gradient, measures the meridional extent of eddy mixing by a single jet. The ratio ℓβ /ℓT, where ℓT is the topographic length scale, governs jet behavior. Multiple, steady jets with fixed meridional spacing are observed when ℓβ ≫ ℓT or when ℓβ ≈ ℓT. When ℓβ < ℓT, a pattern of perpetual jet formation and jet merger dominates the time evolution of the system. Zonal ridges systematically reduce the domain-averaged meridional transport, while two-dimensional, sinusoidal bumps can increase transport by an order of magnitude or more. For certain parameters, bumpy topography gives rise to periodic oscillations in the jet structure between purely zonal and topographically steered states. In these cases, transport is dominated by bursts of mixing associated with the transition between the two regimes. Topography modifies local potential vorticity (PV) gradients and mean flows; this can generate asymmetric Reynolds stresses about the jet core and can feed back on the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy through baroclinic instability. Both processes contribute to unsteady jet behavior. It is likely that these processes play a role in the dynamic nature of Southern Ocean jets.

Estimates of Potential Vorticity at Small Scales in the Ocean

1988 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Müller ◽  
Ren-Chieh Lien ◽  
Robin Williams
Keyword(s):  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Small Scales

scholarly journals Quasigeostrophic Turbulence with Explicit Surface Dynamics: Application to the Atmospheric Energy Spectrum

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 450-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Tulloch ◽  
K. Shafer Smith
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Function Solution ◽  
Mean Temperature ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
Quasigeostrophic Model

Abstract The horizontal wavenumber spectra of wind and temperature near the tropopause have a steep −3 slope at synoptic scales and a shallower −5/3 slope at mesoscales, with a transition between the two regimes at a wavelength of about 450 km. Here it is demonstrated that a quasigeostrophic model driven by baroclinic instability exhibits such a transition near its upper boundary (analogous to the tropopause) when surface temperature advection at that boundary is properly resolved and forced. To accurately represent surface advection at the upper and lower boundaries, the vertical structure of the model streamfunction is decomposed into four parts, representing the interior flow with the first two neutral modes, and each surface with its Green’s function solution, resulting in a system with four prognostic equations. Mean temperature gradients are applied at each surface, and a mean potential vorticity gradient consisting both of β and vertical shear is applied in the interior. The system exhibits three fundamental types of baroclinic instability: interactions between the upper and lower surfaces (Eady type), interactions between one surface and the interior (Charney type), and interactions between the barotropic and baroclinic interior modes (Phillips type). The turbulent steady states that result from each of these instabilities are distinct, and those of the former two types yield shallow kinetic energy spectra at small scales along those boundaries where mean temperature gradients are present. When both mean interior and surface gradients are present, the surface spectrum reflects a superposition of the interior-dominated −3 slope cascade at large scales, and the surface-dominated −5/3 slope cascade at small scales. The transition wavenumber depends linearly on the ratio of the interior potential vorticity gradient to the surface temperature gradient, and scales with the inverse of the deformation scale when β = 0.

Potential Vorticity Mixing in Hurricanes: Comparison of Nondivergent and Divergent Barotropic Vortices

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R. Fulton ◽  
Wayne H. Schubert ◽  
Michael T. Montgomery
Keyword(s):  
Potential Vorticity

The study of the process of evolution of the jet under outflow of water from the supercritical state through a thin nozzle

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.Kh. Bolotnova ◽  
V.A. Korobchinskaya
Keyword(s):  
Stationary Process ◽  
Supercritical State ◽  
System Of Differential Equations ◽  
Jet Formation ◽  
Cylindrical Coordinates ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Supersonic Regime ◽  
Water Outflow ◽  
Thin Nozzle ◽  
Supercritical Temperature

The dynamics of the water outflow from the initial supercritical state through a thin nozzle is studied. To describe the initial stage of non-stationary process outflow the system of differential equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy in a two-dimensional cylindrical coordinates with axial symmetry is used. The spatial distribution of pressure and velocity of jet formation was received. It was established that a supersonic regime of outflow at supercritical temperature of 650 K is formed, which have a qualitative agreement for the velocity compared with the Bernoulli analytical solution and the experimental data.

scholarly journals Integrable unsteady motion with an application to ocean eddies

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-151
Author(s):  
A. D. Kirwan, Jr. ◽  
B. L. Lipphardt, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Potential Vorticity ◽  
Particle Motion ◽  
Gulf Stream ◽  
Incompressible Flows ◽  
Unsteady Motion ◽  
Ring System ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Ocean Eddies ◽  
Multilayered Systems

Abstract. Application of the Brown-Samelson theorem, which shows that particle motion is integrable in a class of vorticity-conserving, two-dimensional incompressible flows, is extended here to a class of explicit time dependent dynamically balanced flows in multilayered systems. Particle motion for nonsteady two-dimensional flows with discontinuities in the vorticity or potential vorticity fields (modon solutions) is shown to be integrable. An example of a two-layer modon solution constrained by observations of a Gulf Stream ring system is discussed.

scholarly journals The halo model as a versatile tool to predict intrinsic alignments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Fortuna ◽  
Henk Hoekstra ◽  
Benjamin Joachimi ◽  
Harry Johnston ◽  
Nora Elisa Chisari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Stage Iv ◽  
Stage Iii ◽  
Radial Dependence ◽  
Additional Parameter ◽  
Small Scales ◽  
Cosmic Shear ◽  
Galaxy Populations ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Intrinsic alignments (IAs) of galaxies are an important contaminant for cosmic shear studies, but the modelling is complicated by the dependence of the signal on the source galaxy sample. In this paper, we use the halo model formalism to capture this diversity and examine its implications for Stage-III and Stage-IV cosmic shear surveys. We account for the different IA signatures at large and small scales, as well for the different contributions from central/satellite and red/blue galaxies, and we use realistic mocks to account for the characteristics of the galaxy populations as a function of redshift. We inform our model using the most recent observational findings: we include a luminosity dependence at both large and small scales and a radial dependence of the signal within the halo. We predict the impact of the total IA signal on the lensing angular power spectra, including the current uncertainties from the IA best-fits to illustrate the range of possible impact on the lensing signal: the lack of constraints for fainter galaxies is the main source of uncertainty for our predictions of the IA signal. We investigate how well effective models with limited degrees of freedom can account for the complexity of the IA signal. Although these lead to negligible biases for Stage-III surveys, we find that, for Stage-IV surveys, it is essential to at least include an additional parameter to capture the redshift dependence.

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