Spontaneous inertia-gravity wave generation from mesoscale eddies

<p>An exact geostrophic vortex generate spontaneously inertia-gravity waves (IGWs) with spiral patterns via singularity instability mechanism. In the vertical direction, the energy of the IGWs is dominated by mode-1 in the generation and propagation processes, leading to weak dissipation and long-distance propagation. The amplitude of the IGWs increases linearly with the Rossby number in the range 0.04–0.1. Additionally, the IGWs emitted from an anticyclonic vortex are stronger than those radiated from the cyclonic vortex. Anticyclonic and cyclonic geostrophic vortices transfer roughly 0.54% and 0.41% of their kinetic energy to IGWs in this transient generation process, respectively. However, quasi-geostrophic mesoscale eddies are decomposed to balanced geostrophic component and unbalanced near-inertial oscillations with different timescales. Near-inertial waves (NIWs) also can be generated as a forced response to the nonlinear coupling of the geostrophic component and high-frequency oscillations of the quasi-geostrophic eddies. Afterwards, the NIWs resonate with the near-inertial oscillations and share the same horizontal wavenumbers with the eddy. Generally, an anticyclonic mesoscale eddy can emit much stronger NIWs than does a cyclonic eddy. The NIW intensity strengthens exponentially with the Rossby number. The spontaneous generated NIWs represent an effective pathway for mesoscale eddy energy skin and non-negligible contribution to the global NIW energy.</p>

Time-Space Fractional Coupled Generalized Zakharov-Kuznetsov Equations Set for Rossby Solitary Waves in Two-Layer Fluids

In this paper, the theoretical model of Rossby waves in two-layer fluids is studied. A single quasi-geostrophic vortex equation is used to derive various models of Rossby waves in a one-layer fluid in previous research. In order to explore the propagation and interaction of Rossby waves in two-layer fluids, from the classical quasi-geodesic vortex equations, by employing the multi-scale analysis and turbulence method, we derived a new (2+1)-dimensional coupled equations set, namely the generalized Zakharov-Kuznetsov(gZK) equations set. The gZK equations set is an extension of a single ZK equation; they can describe two kinds of weakly nonlinear waves interaction by multiple coupling terms. Then, for the first time, based on the semi-inverse method and the variational method, a new fractional-order model which is the time-space fractional coupled gZK equations set is derived successfully, which is greatly different from the single fractional equation. Finally, group solutions of the time-space fractional coupled gZK equations set are obtained with the help of the improved ( G ′ / G ) -expansion method.

Winter positions of Arctic front during periods of cooling and warming

Winter positions of the Arctic front (AF) during the known periods of the climate cooling (1949–1980) and warming (1981–2012) were analyzed within the sector 10° W – 60° E. The AF positios were determined by the following indicators: 1) a surface pressure; 2) horizontal wind divergence; 3) geostrophic vortex; 4) geostrophic heat advection. The main extrema of these four dynamic characteristics coincide and fall on the latitude 72.5° N. This corresponds to the average position of the AF for a given resolution and confirms correctness of our choice of these characteristics as the AF indicators. Relative differences between mean profiles of all values of the above warm and cold periods were calculated using method of normalization of each value for the corresponding latitude by the standard deviation for the entire period (1949–2012). To study variability of the AF position we used mean yearly winter profiles of the variables under investigation together with the statistical analysis of positions of the extrema within the latitude degrees. For pressure and geostrophic advection positions of the absolute minima were determined while for geostrophic vortex and divergence – positions of the absolute maxima. The data show that according to different criteria the AF average positions for the period 1949–2012 lie within the zone 72.4–73.4 N. The interannual variability of the AF positions lies within the 1–2 degrees of latitude and corresponds to the range of the air temperature variability above the zone of maximal changes in the sea ice area. According to the standard deviation values of the divergence and the geostrophic vortex are the most stable in region of the AF passage. Comparison of differences of the studied characteristics between the warm and cold periods shows that the changes in the AF positions are not statistically significant (P(t) < 91% t‑criterion) unlike the changes in positions of isolines which characterize the warming (P(t) = 100%). Thus, despite significant changes in properties of the surface and the temperature regime to the north of 72.5 N (the warming), according to all the criteria the AF climatic position remains quasi‑stationary for 32‑year periods of averaging.