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Vortex merging in quasi-geostrophic flows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2000

J. von HARDENBERG ,
J. C. McWILLIAMS ,
A. PROVENZALE ,
A. SHCHEPETKIN  and
J. B. WEISS
J. von HARDENBERG
Affiliation:
Istituto di Cosmogeofisica del CNR, corso Fiume 4, I-10133 Torino, Italy
J. C. McWILLIAMS
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, USA
A. PROVENZALE
Affiliation:
Istituto di Cosmogeofisica del CNR, corso Fiume 4, I-10133 Torino, Italy
A. SHCHEPETKIN
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, USA
J. B. WEISS
Affiliation:
PAOS, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
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Abstract

We study symmetric vortex merger in quasi-geostrophic flows using numerical simulations with high vertical resolution. We analyse the effect of varying the vertical aspect ratio of the vortices and compare with the barotropic case. During the merging of potential vorticity cores with small aspect ratio, we observe the birth of secondary instabilities on the filaments. This is a new phenomenon not seen in baroclinic simulations having low vertical resolution. Passive Lagrangian tracers are used to explore the transport of fluid parcels during vortex merger, to provide a detailed view of the flow evolution, and to determine the value of the critical merging distance for baroclinic vortices.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 412 , 10 June 2000 , pp. 331 - 353
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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