Vortex merger near a topographic slope in a homogeneous rotating fluid
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Date
01/10/2017Author
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Abstract
The effect of a bottom slope on the merger of two identical Rankine vortices is investigated in a two dimensional, quasi-geostrophic, incompressible fluid. When two cyclones initially lie parallel to the slope, and more than two vortex diameters away from the slope, the critical merger distance is unchanged. When the cyclones are closer to the slope, they can merge at larger distances, but they lose more mass into filaments, thus weakening the efficiency of merger. Several effects account for this: the topographic Rossby wave advects the cyclones, reduces their mutual distance and deforms them. This along shelf wave breaks into filaments and into secondary vortices which shear out the initial cyclones. The global motion of fluid towards the shallow domain and the erosion of the two cyclones are confirmed by the evolution of particles seeded both in the cyclone sand near the topographic slope. The addition of tracer to the flow indicates that diffusion is ballistic at early times. For two anticyclones, merger is also facilitated because one vortex is ejected offshore towards the other, via coupling with a topographic cyclone. Again two anticyclones can merge at large distance but they are eroded in the process. Finally, for taller topographies, the critical merger distance is again increased and the topographic influence can scatter or completely erode one of the two initial cyclones. Conclusions are drawn on possible improvements of the model configuration for an application to the ocean.
Citation
Carton , X , Morvan , M , Reinaud , J N , Sokolovskiy , M , L'Hégaret , P & Vic , C 2017 , ' Vortex merger near a topographic slope in a homogeneous rotating fluid ' , Regular and Chaotic Dynamics , vol. 22 , no. 5 , pp. 455-478 . https://doi.org/10.1134/S156035471705001X
Publication
Regular and Chaotic Dynamics
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1560-3547Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2017, Pleiades Publishing Ltd. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1134/S156035471705001X
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This work is a contribution to the PHYSINDIEN research program. It was supported by CNRS-RFBR contract PRC 1069/16-55-150001.Collections
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