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Formation of small-scale vortices in the core of a large merged vortex

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Oulhen_2022_Formation_of_small_scale_GAFD_2074983_CCBY.pdf (4.992Mb)
Date
25/05/2022
Author
Oulhen, Erwan
Reinaud, Jean Noel
Carton, Xavier
Keywords
Surface quasi-geostrophy
Vortex merger
Barotropic instability
Small vortices
Core tapping
QA Mathematics
QC Physics
NDAS
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Abstract
The merger of two surface quasi-geostrophic vortices is examined in detail. As the two vortices collapse towards each other in the merging process, they trap their external fronts between them; these fronts are inserted into the final merged vortex, where they form a central, nearly parallel, sheared velocity strip, sensitive to barotropic instability. As a result, this strip breaks up into an alley of small vortices. Subsequently, these small vortices may undergo merger and grow in size in the core of the large merged vortex. The number of small trapped vortices decreases correspondingly. Finally, a single or two small vortices remain. These processes are analysed using a numerical model of the surface quasi-geostrophic equations. The sensitivity of this process to the initial vortex characteristics is explored. A parallel is drawn between this problem and the instability of a rectilinear strip of temperature with a central gap. The application of this problem to the Ocean is discussed.
Citation
Oulhen , E , Reinaud , J N & Carton , X 2022 , ' Formation of small-scale vortices in the core of a large merged vortex ' , Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics , vol. Latest Articles . https://doi.org/10.1080/03091929.2022.2074983
Publication
Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/03091929.2022.2074983
ISSN
0309-1929
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
Funding: We thank LOPS and UBO for a M.Sc internship grant which allowed the first author to carry out this work.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/25502

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