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The vortices of geostrophic turbulence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

James C. Mcwilliams
James C. Mcwilliams
Affiliation:
Geophysical Turbulence Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research, PO Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307, USA
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Abstract

A solution for decaying geostrophic turbulence at large Reynolds number is analysed by means of an automated vortex census. The census identifies the flow structures that approximately conform to the idealized shape of an isolated, coherent geostrophic vortex. It also determines vortex characteristics, such as amplitude, size, and shape. The distributions of these characteristics within the vortex population are examined, as are their time evolutions. These distributions are interpreted with reference to the dynamical processes of vortices, and they are compared to analogous distributions from a solution for two-dimensional turbulence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 219 , October 1990 , pp. 387 - 404
Copyright
© 1990 Cambridge University Press

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