Critical latitude in global quasi-geostrophic flow on a rotating sphere

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Franken, Arnout, Luesink, Erwin, Ephrati, Sagy, Geurts, Bernard
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Franken, Arnout
Luesink, Erwin
Ephrati, Sagy
Geurts, Bernard
author_facet Franken, Arnout
Luesink, Erwin
Ephrati, Sagy
Geurts, Bernard
contents In this paper, we study geostrophic turbulence without external forcing or dissipation, using a Casimir-preserving numerical method. The research examines the formation of large zonal jets, common in geophysical flows, especially in giant gas planets. These jets form due to the east-west stretching of vortices, influenced by the gradient of the Coriolis parameter, leading to a critical latitude beyond which jets do not form. Using a global quasi-geostrophic model with a fully latitude-dependent Coriolis parameter, we investigate this critical latitude, which is theorized to depend only on the product of the Rossby number and the Lamb parameter. By simulating random flow fields, the critical latitude was identified through zonally averaged zonal velocity profiles. Results align with geostrophic theory, especially near typical Rossby and Lamb parameter values for Earth's atmosphere. However, in the regime of weak rotation (high Rossby numbers) and strong stratification (high Lamb values), no clear critical latitude emerges; instead, zonal jet amplitude and width decrease gradually towards the poles. This research paves the way for further study of jet dynamics under a fully latitude-dependent Coriolis parameter.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_05432
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Critical latitude in global quasi-geostrophic flow on a rotating sphere
Franken, Arnout
Luesink, Erwin
Ephrati, Sagy
Geurts, Bernard
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Fluid Dynamics
In this paper, we study geostrophic turbulence without external forcing or dissipation, using a Casimir-preserving numerical method. The research examines the formation of large zonal jets, common in geophysical flows, especially in giant gas planets. These jets form due to the east-west stretching of vortices, influenced by the gradient of the Coriolis parameter, leading to a critical latitude beyond which jets do not form. Using a global quasi-geostrophic model with a fully latitude-dependent Coriolis parameter, we investigate this critical latitude, which is theorized to depend only on the product of the Rossby number and the Lamb parameter. By simulating random flow fields, the critical latitude was identified through zonally averaged zonal velocity profiles. Results align with geostrophic theory, especially near typical Rossby and Lamb parameter values for Earth's atmosphere. However, in the regime of weak rotation (high Rossby numbers) and strong stratification (high Lamb values), no clear critical latitude emerges; instead, zonal jet amplitude and width decrease gradually towards the poles. This research paves the way for further study of jet dynamics under a fully latitude-dependent Coriolis parameter.
title Critical latitude in global quasi-geostrophic flow on a rotating sphere
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.05432