Effect of Baroclinicity on Vortex Axisymmetrization.Part Ⅱ：Baroclinic Basic Vortex

The effect of baroclinicity on vortex axisymmetrization is examined within a two-layer dynamical model.Three basic state vortices are constructed with varying degrees of baroclinicity：（i） barotropic,（ii） weak baroclinic,and （iii） strong baroclinic.The linear and nonlinear evolution of wavenumber-2 baroclinic disturbances are examined in each of the three basic state vortices.The results show that the radial propagating speed of the vortex Rossby wave at the lower level is larger with the stronger baroclinicity,resulting in a faster linear axisymmetrization process in the stronger baroclinic vortex.It is found that the nonlinear axisymmetrization process takes the longest time in the strongest baroclinic vortex among the three different basic vortices due to the weaker kinetic energy transfer from asymmetric to symmetric circulations at the lower level.A major finding in this study is that the same initial asymmetric perturbation can have different effects on symmetric vortices depending on the initial vortex baroclinicity.In numerical weather prediction models,this implies that there exists a sensitivity of the subsequent structural and intensity change solely due to the specification of the initial vertical shear of the tropical cyclone vortex.     

Properties and stability of a meso-scale line-form disturbance

By using the 3D dynamic equations for small- and meso-scale disturbances, an investigation is performed on the heterotropic instability (including symmetric instability and traversal-type instability) of a zonal line-like disturbance moving at any angle with respect to basic flow, arriving at the following results: (1) with linear shear available, the heterotropic instability of the disturbance will occur only when flow shearing happens in the direction of the line-like disturbance movement or in the direction perpendicular to the disturbance movement, with the heterotropic instability showing the instability of the internal inertial gravity wave; (2) in the presence of second-order non-linear shear, the disturbance of the heterotropic instability includes internal inertial gravity and vortex Rossby waves. For the zonal line-form disturbance under study, the vortex Rossby wave has its source in the second-order shear of meridional basic wind speed in the flow and propagates unidirectionally with respect to the meridional basic flow. As a mesoscale heterotropic instable disturbance, the vortex Rossby wave has its origin from the second shear of the flow in the direction perpendicular to the line-form disturbance and is independent of the condition in the direction parallel to the flow; (3) for general zonal line-like disturbances, if the second-order shear happens in the meridional wind speed, i.e., the second shear of the flow in the direction perpendicular to the line-form disturbance, then the heterotropic instability of the disturbance is likely to be the instability of a mixed Rossby–internal inertial gravity wave; (4) the symmetric instability is actually the instability of the internal inertial gravity wave. The second-order shear in the flow represents an instable factor for a symmetric-type disturbance; (5) the instability of a traversal-type disturbance is the instability of the internal inertial gravity wave when the basic flow is constant or only linearly sheared. With a second or nonlinear vertical shear of the basic flow taken into account, the instability of a traversal-type disturbance may be the instability of a mixed vortex Rossby – gravity wave.     

GENERALIZED ENERGY CONSERVATION AND UNSTABLE PERTURBATION PROPERTY IN BAROTROPIC VORTEX

Based on a barotropic vortex model, generalized energy-conserving equation was derived and two necessary conditions of basic flow destabilization are gained. These conditions correspond to generalized barotropic instability and super speed instability. They are instabilities of vortex and gravity inertial wave respectively. In order to relate to practical situation, a barotropic vortex was analyzed, the basic flow of which is similar to lower level basic wind field of tropical cyclones and the maximum wind radius of which is 500 km. The results show that generalized barotropic instability depending upon the radial gradient of relative vorticity can appear in this vortex. It can be concluded that unstable vortex Rossby wave may appear in barotropic vortex.     

STUDY ON THE STABILITY STRUCTURE OF SYNOPTIC SCALE SYSTEMS,THE BIFURCATION OF PHASE.PATH CHARACTERISTICS AND THE INFLUENCE OF THE TIME-OSCILLATION OF HEAT SOURCE

This paper discusses the stability structure and the bifurcation of phase path characteristics of synopticscale system.The analytic results show that the catastrophe of the synoptic scale disturbance may be caused bythe nonlinear effects of barotropic and baroclinic instability and advection of ambient large-scale flow.Also,foregoing nonlinear effects on the speed of development and decay of the system are presented in the processesdeviating from or approaching to equilibrium state.It has been found that there is a resonance phenomenonbetween the time-oscillation of heat source and the atmospheric disturbance.     

Unstable Dynamical Properties of Spiral Cloud Bands in Tropical Cyclones

A nondivergent barotropic model （Model 1） and a barotropic primitive equation vortex model （Model 2） are linearized respectively in this paper. Then their perturbation wave spectrums are computed with a normal mode approach to study the instability problem on an appointed tropical cyclone （TC）-like vortex, thereby, the dynamic instability properties of spiral cloud bands of TCs are discussed. The results show that the unstable mode of both models exhibits a spiral band-like structure that propagates away from the vortex outside the radius of maximum winds. The discrete modal instability of the pure vortex Rossby wave can account for the generation of the eyewall and the inner spiral band. The unstable mode in Model 2 has three parts, i.e., eyewall, inner and outer spiral bands. This mode can be interpreted as a mixed vortex Rossby-inertia gravitational wave. The unbalanced property of the wave outside the stagnation radius of the vortex Rossby wave is one of the important reasons for the formation of the outer spiral band in TCs. Accordingly, the outer spiral band can be identified to possess properties of an inertial-gravitational wave. When the formation of unstable inner and outer spiral bands is studied, a barotropic vortex model shall be used. In this model, the most unstable perturbation bears the attributes of either the vortex Rossby wave or the inertial-gravitational wave, depending on the vortex radius. So such perturbations shall be viewed as an unbalanced and unstable mixed wave of these two kinds of waves.     

EVOLUTION OF LARGE SCALE DISTURBANCES AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH MEAN FLOW IN A ROTATING BAROTROPIC ATMOSPHERE——PART Ⅰ

The problems on evolution of large-scale disturbances and their interaction with mean flow recently attract much effort of meteorologists due to their practical importance in weather and climate predictions. In this paper, some theoretical results obtained in current investigations of these problems will be reviewed. A barotropic atmosphere is taken in this paper, and the baroclinic atmosphere is left in our second paper.The following aspects are reviewed: First, the general properties of two-dimensional barotropic motion both in the nonlinear and linearized equations and both in the quasi-geostrophic and non-geostrophic models. Second, the evolution and the structure of Rossby wave packet superimposed on a zonal or non-zonal basic flow.In this part, only the above two problems are reviewed. The remanent problems, i.e., the normal modes and continuous spectra of both quasi-geostrophic and non-geostrophic models, weakly nonlinear theory and the fully nonlinear theory will be discussed in part Ⅱ (another     

THE LYAPUNOV STABILITY OF NONLINEAR WAVE MOTION IN THE BAROTROPIC NONDIVERGENT ATMOSPHERE

Introducing the concept of pseudo-momentum, a generalized Arnold-Dikii functional is established, and then thesufficient condition for stability of nonlinear wave motion in the barotropic nondivergent atmosphere is derived by useof variational principle. It is found that the stability of nonlinear wave motion depends not only on its streamfield distri-bution, but also on its phase speed for the propagating nonlinear wave motion. Moreover, the stability criterion of trav-elling modon is also obtained, and it is shown that the travelling modon is stable if the scale of disturbance superimposedon the travelling modon remains to be less than that of the travelling modon.     

Adjoint sensitivity study on idealized explosive cyclogenesis

The adjoint sensitivity related to explosive cyclogenesis in a conditionally unstable atmosphere is investigated in this study.The PSU/NCAR limited-area,nonhydrostatic primitive equation numerical model MM5 and its adjoint system are employed for numerical simulation and adjoint computation,respectively.To ensure the explosive development of a baroclinic wave,the forecast model is initialized with an idealized condition including an idealized two-dimensional baroclinic jet with a balanced three-dimensional moderateamplitude disturbance,derived from a potential vorticity inversion technique.Firstly,the validity period of the tangent linear model for this idealized baroclinic wave case is discussed,considering different initial moisture distributions and a dry condition.Secondly,the 48-h forecast surface pressure center and the vertical component of the relative vorticity of the cyclone are selected as the response functions for adjoint computation in a dry and moist environment,respectively.The preliminary results show that the validity of the tangent linear assumption for this idealized baroclinic wave case can extend to 48 h with intense moist convection,and the validity period can last even longer in the dry adjoint integration.Adjoint sensitivity analysis indicates that the rapid development of the idealized baroclinic wave is sensitive to the initial wind and temperature perturbations around the steering level in the upstream.Moreover,the moist adjoint sensitivity can capture a secondary high sensitivity center in the upper troposphere,which cannot be depicted in the dry adjoint run.     

New Approach to Study the Evolution of Rossby Wave Packet

The average variational principle was employed in this paper to study the evolution of large-scale and slowly varying Rossby wave packet with basic flow both in barotropic and baroclinic atmospheres. The evolution of the structure of Rossby wave packet with both time and space was studied. The results obtained in this paper are similar to the results of by WKBJ method. In addition, the dispersive process of the wave packet was analysed by taking Gaussian type wave packet as an initial disturbance. The valid time scale for application of wave packet theory in the atmosphere was obtained.     

Charney's Model—the Renowned Prototype of Baroclinic Instability—Is Barotropically Unstable As Well

The Charney model is reexamined using a new mathematical tool, the multiscale window transform(MWT), and the MWT-based localized multiscale energetics analysis developed by Liang and Robinson to deal with realistic geophysical fluid flow processes. Traditionally, though this model has been taken as a prototype of baroclinic instability, it actually undergoes a mixed one. While baroclinic instability explains the bottom-trapped feature of the perturbation, the second extreme center in the perturbation field can only be explained by a new barotropic instability when the Charney–Green number γ 1, which takes place throughout the fluid column, and is maximized at a height where its baroclinic counterpart stops functioning.The giving way of the baroclinic instability to a barotropic one at this height corresponds well to the rectification of the tilting found on the maps of perturbation velocity and pressure. Also established in this study is the relative importance of barotropic instability to baroclinic instability in terms of γ. When γ 1, barotropic instability is negligible and hence the system can be viewed as purely baroclinic; when γ 1, however, barotropic and baroclinic instabilities are of the same order;in fact, barotropic instability can be even stronger. The implication of these results has been discussed in linking them to real atmospheric processes.     

Effect of Baroclinicity on Vortex Axisymmetrization. Part Ⅰ:Barotropic Basic Vortex

The barotropic and baroclinic disturbances axisymmetrized by the barotropic basic vortex are examined in an idealized modeling framework consisting of two layers. Using a Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approach, the radial propagation of a baroclinic disturbance is shown to be slower than a barotropic disturbance, resulting in a slower linear axisymmetrization for baroclinic disturbances. The slower-propagating baroclinic waves also cause more baroclinic asymmetric kinetic energy to be transferred directly to the barotropic symmetric vortex than from barotropic disturbances, resulting in a faster axisymmetrization process in the nonlinear baroclinic wave case than in the nonlinear barotropic wave case.     

The effect of barotropic shear on baroclinic instability Part II: The initial value problem

The effect of barotropic shear on baroclinic instability has been investigated using both a linear quasi-geostrophic β-plane channel model and a multilevel primitive equation model on the sphere when a nonmodal disturbance is used as the initial perturbation condition. The analysis of the initial value problem has demonstrated the existence of a rapid transient growth phase of the most unstable mode. The inclusion of a linear barotropic shear reduces initial rapid transient growth, although at intermediate times the transient growth rates of the sheared cases can be larger than in the unsheared case owing to downgradient eddy momentum fluxes. Certain disturbances can amplify by factors of 4.5–60 times (for the L₂ norm), or 3–30 times (for the perturbation amplitude maximum), as large as disturbances based on the linear normal modes. However, linear horizontal shear always reduces the amplification factors. The mechanism is that the shear confines the disturbance meriodionally and therefore limits the energy conversion from the zonal available potential energy to eddy energy. The effect of barotropic shear on the transient growth is not changed much in the presence of either thermal damping or Ekman pumping. Nonmodal integrations of baroclinic wave lifecycles show that the energy level reached by eddies is not very sensitive to the structure of the initial disturbance if the amplitude of the initial disturbance is small. Although in some cases the eddy kinetic energy level reached by the wave integrated from nonmodal disturbance can be 25–150% larger than the normal mode integrations, barotropic shear, characterized by large shear vorticity with small horizontal curvature, always reduces the eddy kinetic energy level reached by the wave, confirming the results of normal mode studies.     

斜压切变基流中横波型扰动的特征波动 Ⅱ:谱函数

“斜压切变基流中横波型扰动的特征波动Ⅰ谱点分布”一文中分析了斜压切变基流中横波型扰动的谱点分布，这里又对其谱函数进行了分析讨论。结果表明当基流在垂直方向存在切变时，重力惯性波与涡旋波的谱函数在垂直方向上均可出现临界层，临界层的高度随频率σ而变化，即重力惯性波与涡旋波都存在连续谱，但涡旋波与重力惯性波连续谱的结构却不同；对天气尺度扰动，两支重力惯性波和1支涡旋波的连续谱不重叠，此时每支波动仅有1个临界层；而对次天气尺度的扰动，重力惯性波与涡旋波的连续谱区会发生重叠，在连续谱的重叠区，重力惯性波仍只有1个临界层，但涡旋波则可以有2个或3个临界层。无论是涡旋波还是重力惯性波其连续谱的波包随时间都是衰减的，但涡旋波波包比重力惯性波波包衰减得慢。     

On the dynamics of a solitary vortex

The dynamic equilibrium of a solitary vortex of permanent form but arbitrary shape is investigated on a β plane. The vortex is assumed to propagate in the east-west direction. Forces and moments acting on the vortex are computed and the balances between them obtained. The dynamic balances are required for the equilibrium of the vortex and represent the conditions necessary for the existence of a solitary vortex of permanent form. These conditions have two useful expressions, one as integral constraints on the vortex structure and the other as formulas for the propagation speed of the vortex. For the latter, the speed is shown to be proportional to the averaged velocity moment of the vortex and inversely proportional to its averaged relative vorticity. The propagation speed also depends on the size of the vortex; it increases with size for westward propagation and decreases with size for eastward propagation. The effect of current shear on the vortex is also investigated. The results of this study are applicable to the nonlinear barotropic vortex in a nondivergent fluid as well as to the baroclinic vortex, provided that the latter satisfies the quasigeostrophic approximation.     

非纬向基本气流的斜压不稳定

本文用分层两层模式研究了在一般非纬向基本气流情况下的斜压不稳定。通过比较分析,给出了基本气流对斜压不稳定的影响,结果表明,在非纬向基本气流情况下,更有利于出现斜压不稳定。 将非纬向基本气流的斜压不稳定理论用于高纬度地区的大气运动,说明了高纬度地区常见的小扰动强烈发展,是切变基本气流所驱动的一种“涡旋波”的斜压不稳定。     

Baroclinic solitary waves with radial symmetry

A model for the structure and motion of baroclinic solitary waves in the atmosphere or ocean is presented. Like gravity wave solitons, these planetary wave solutions are both weakly nonlinear and weakly dispersive. The dispersion effects, induced by β, are small because the scale of the wave is large compared to the deformation radius. The steepening effects are provided by the interaction of the wave with exterior mean shear flow, which may be either barotropic or baroclinic. The solutions have two properties which suggest that such theories may be useful in modelling solitary disturbances in the atmosphere or ocean: radial symmetry and fluid speeds which exceed the phase speed of the wave itself. As an example, we apply the model to Gulf Stream Rings.     

Vortex Rossby waves on smooth circular vortices: Part I. Theory

A complete theory of the linear initial-value problem for Rossby waves on a class of smooth circular vortices in both f-plane and polar-region geometries is presented in the limit of small and large Rossby deformation radius. Although restricted to the interior region of barotropically stable circular vortices possessing a single extrema in tangential wind, the theory covers all azimuthal wavenumbers. The non-dimensional evolution equation for perturbation potential vorticity is shown to depend on only one parameter, G, involving the azimuthal wavenumber, the basic state radial potential vorticity gradient, the interior deformation radius, and the interior Rossby number.In Hankel transform space the problem admits a Schrödinger’s equation formulation which permits a qualitative and quantitative discussion of the interaction between vortex Rossby wave disturbances and the mean vortex. New conservation laws are developed which give exact time-evolving bounds for disturbance kinetic energy. Using results from the theory of Lie groups a nontrivial separation of variables can be achieved to obtain an exact solution for asymmetric balanced disturbances covering a wide range of geophysical vortex applications including tropical cyclone, polar vortex, and cyclone/anticyclone interiors in barotropic dynamics. The expansion for square summable potential vorticity comprises a discrete basis of radially propagating sheared vortex Rossby wave packets with nontrivial transient behavior. The solution representation is new, and for this class of swirling flows gives deeper physical insight into the dynamics of perturbed vortex interiors than the more traditional approach of Laplace transform or continuous-spectrum normal-mode representations. In general, initial disturbances are shown to excite two regions of wave activity. At the extrema of these barotropically stable vortices and for a certain range of wavenumbers, the Rossby wave dynamics are shown to become nonlinear for all initial conditions. Extensions of the theory are proposed.     

关于西风急流在强迫扰动中作用的数值试验

本文利用非线性水波方程谱模式模拟了不同基本气流对低纬和中纬地区涡源扰动的强迫响应，进而讨论西风急流在大尺度流场强迫扰动中的作用。试验分析表明，中纬度西风急流对来自低纬的扰动波列有增哟的阻 阻滞的作用，并能影响强迫扰动的波数和路径。在存在西风急流的情况下，基本气流对低纬扰源的响应比对中纬扰源的响应要强得多。     

30—50 天振荡动能特性及其与平均气流正压不稳定能的转换

该文利用冬季500 hPa的欧洲中心（ECMWF）网格点逐日资料，分析了30—50天振荡的E矢量分布、动能特性及平均气流的正压不稳定能转换特征，从而得到:30—50天振荡的能量传播与西风急流的位置有密切的关系，在西风大风速区作纬向能量传播，在小风速区作指向赤道的经向传播；在急流的出口区有较强的正压能转换，低频振荡从基本流中获得能量，使这里的低频动能最大，并表现出较强的正压特性，与低纬度的斜压特性形成鲜明对照。