Steady radiating baroclinic vortices in vertically sheared flows

<p>Baroclinic vortices embedded in a large-scale vertical shear are examined. We describe a new class of steady propagating vortices that radiate Rossby waves but yet do not decay. This is possible since they can extract available potential energy (APE) from a large-scale vertically sheared flow, even though this flow is linearly stable. The vortices generate Rossby waves which induce a meridional vortex drift and an associated heat flux explained by an analysis of pseudomomentum and pseudoenergy. An analytical steady solution is considered for a marginally stable flow in a two-layer model on the beta-plane, where the beta-effect is compensated by the potential vorticity gradient (PVG) associated with the meridional slope of the density interface. The compensation occurs in the upper layer for an upper layer westward flow (an easterly shear) and in the lower layer for an upper layer eastward flow (the westerly shear). The theory is confirmed by numerical simulations indicating that for westward flows in subtropical oceans, the reduced PVG in the upper layer provides favorable conditions for eddy persistence and long-range propagation. The drifting and radiating vortex is an alternative mechanism besides baroclinic instability for converting background APE to mesoscale energy. </p>

Influence of Bottom Topography on Vortex Stability

The effects of topography on the linear stability of both barotropic vortices and two-layer, baroclinic vortices are examined by considering cylindrical topography and vortices with stepwise relative vorticity profiles in the quasigeostrophic approximation. Four vortex configurations are considered, classified by the number of relative vorticity steps in the horizontal and the number of layers in the vertical: barotropic one-step vortex (Rankine vortex), barotropic two-step vortex, and their two-layer, baroclinic counterparts with the vorticity steps in the upper layer. In the barotropic calculation, the vortex is destabilized by topography having an oppositely signed potential vorticity jump while stabilized by topography of same-signed jump, that is, anticyclones are destabilized by seamounts while stabilized by depressions. Further, topography of appropriate sign and magnitude can excite a mode-1 instability for a two-step vortex, especially relevant for topographic encounters of an otherwise stable vortex. The baroclinic calculation is in general consistent with the barotropic calculation except that the growth rate weakens and, for a two-step vortex, becomes less sensitive to topography (sign and magnitude) as baroclinicity increases. The smaller growth rate for a baroclinic vortex is consistent with previous findings that vortices with sufficient baroclinic structure could cross the topography relatively easily. Nonlinear contour dynamics simulations are conducted to confirm the linear stability analysis and to describe the subsequent evolution.

Stability of Baroclinic Vortices on the β Plane and Implications for Transport

This paper explores stability of and transport by baroclinic vortices on the β plane using a two-layer, quasigeostrophic model. The study adapts a wave–mean flow formalism and examines interactions between the axisymmetric flow (“the vortex”) and residuals (“the waves”). Unlike baroclinically unstable vortices on the f plane, such vortices on the β plane can be also vulnerable to barotropic instability as revealed by the globally integrated energy balance analysis. The spatial structure of energy fluxes shows the energy leakage inside the vortex core when its breakdown occurs. Mixing by stable and unstable vortical flows is quantified through the computation of finite-time Lyapunov exponent (FTLE) maps. Depending on the strength of wave radiation, the upper-layer FTLE maps of stable vortices show either an annulus or volute ring of vigorous mixing inside the vortex interior. This ring region is disrupted when the vortex becomes unstable. Both stable and unstable vortices show the wavy patterns of FTLE in the near and far fields. Despite the fact that the initial vortex resides in the top layer only, significant FTLE patterns are observed in the deep layer at later times. Lagrangian analysis of the vortex-induced change of large-scale tracer gradient demonstrates significant effects of vortex instability in the top layer and the importance of the wavelike anomalies in the bottom layer.

Existence, stability and formation of baroclinic tripoles in quasi-geostrophic flows

Hetons are baroclinic vortices able to transport tracers or species, which have been observed at sea. This paper studies the offset collision of two identical hetons, often resulting in the formation of a baroclinic tripole, in a continuously stratified quasi-geostrophic model. This process is of interest since it (temporarily or definitely) stops the transport of tracers contained in the hetons. First, the structure, stationarity and nonlinear stability of baroclinic tripoles composed of an upper core and two lower (symmetric) satellites are studied analytically for point vortices and numerically for finite-area vortices. The condition for stationarity of the point vortices is obtained and it is proven that the baroclinic point tripoles are neutral. Finite-volume stationary tripoles exist with marginal states having very elongated (figure-of-eight shaped) upper cores. In the case of vertically distant upper and lower cores, the latter can nearly join near the centre of the plane. These steady states are compared with their two-layer counterparts. Then, the nonlinear evolution of the steady states shows when they are often neutral (showing an oscillatory evolution); when they are unstable, they can either split into two hetons (by breaking of the upper core) or form a single heton (by merger of the lower satellites). These evolutions reflect the linearly unstable modes which can grow on the vorticity poles. Very tall tripoles can break up vertically due to the vertical shear mutually induced by the poles. Finally, the formation of such baroclinic tripoles from the offset collision of two identical hetons is investigated numerically. This formation occurs for hetons offset by less than the internal separation between their poles. The velocity shear during the interaction can lead to substantial filamentation by the upper core, thus forming small upper satellites, vertically aligned with the lower ones. Finally, in the case of close and flat poles, this shear (or the baroclinic instability of the tripole) can be strong enough that the formed baroclinic tripole is short-lived and that hetons eventually emerge from the collision and drift away.

Motion and structure of atmospheric mesoscale baroclinic vortices: dry air and weak environmental shear

A strongly tilted, nearly axisymmetric vortex in dry air with asymmetric diabatic heating is analysed here by matched asymptotic expansions. The vortex is in gradient wind balance, with vortex Rossby numbers of order unity, and embedded in a quasi-geostrophic (QG) background wind with weak vertical shear. With wind speeds of $60{{\ndash}}120~\mathrm{km} ~{\mathrm{h} }^{\ensuremath{-} 1} $, such vortices correspond to tropical storms or nascent hurricanes according to the Saffir–Simpson scale. For asymmetric heating, nonlinear coupling of the evolution equations for the vortex tilt, its core structure, and its influence on the QG background is found. The theory compares well with the established linear theory of precessing quasi-modes of atmospheric vortices, and it corroborates the relationship between vortex tilt and asymmetric potential temperature and vertical velocity patterns as found by Jones (Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., vol. 121, 1995, pp. 821–851) and Frank & Ritchie (Mon. Weath. Rev., vol. 127, 1999, pp. 2044–2061) in simulations of adiabatic tropical cyclones. A relation between the present theory and the local induction approximation for three-dimensional slender vortex filaments is established.

Vortex Merger in Oceanic Tripoles

A new type of vortex merger is experimentally reported and numerically investigated. The merging process of two anticyclones under the influence of a cyclone (a three-vortex interaction) was observed in sea surface height (SSH) altimetry maps south of the Canary Islands. This three-vortex interaction is investigated using a process-oriented three-dimensional (3D), Boussinesq, and f-plane numerical model that explicitly conserves potential vorticity (PV) on isopycnals. The initial conditions consist of three static and inertially stable baroclinic vortices: two anticyclones and one cyclone. The vortex cores form a triangle in a configuration similar to that found south of the Canary Islands. The numerical results show, in agreement with SSH observations, that two corotating vortices, sufficiently close to each other and in presence of a third counterrotating vortex, merge, leading to a new elongated vortex, which couples with the counterrotating vortex, forming a dipole. Thus, the merging process occurred south of the Canary Islands is consistent with simplified vortex dynamics (basically PV conservation). The merging process depends on the initial PV density extrema, vertical extent, and the angle spanned by the corotating vortices. It is found that the presence of the third counterrotating vortex importantly affects the critical angle of merger and the processes of axisymmetrization and filamentation associated with the two corotating merging vortices. The torque exerted by the counterrotating vortex on the two corotating vortices delays, but does not prevent, their merger.