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Models of interacting pairs of thin, quasi-geostrophic vortices: steady-state solutions and nonlinear stability
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dc.contributor.author | Bersanelli, Matteo | |
dc.contributor.author | Dritschel, David G. | |
dc.contributor.author | Lancellotti, Carlo | |
dc.contributor.author | Poje, Andrew C. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-11-01T12:30:16Z | |
dc.date.available | 2016-11-01T12:30:16Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Bersanelli , M , Dritschel , D G , Lancellotti , C & Poje , A C 2016 , ' Models of interacting pairs of thin, quasi-geostrophic vortices: steady-state solutions and nonlinear stability ' , Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics , vol. 110 , no. 6 , pp. 491-517 . https://doi.org/10.1080/03091929.2016.1250154 | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0309-1929 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE: 246954491 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE UUID: 5da436ec-c3e9-4c0e-a1d4-3e97e96b89b5 | |
dc.identifier.other | Scopus: 84994099378 | |
dc.identifier.other | WOS: 000388104600002 | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0001-6489-3395/work/64697812 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/9744 | |
dc.description | This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Grant N00014-11- 1-0087; the National Science Foundation under Grant 1107307; and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under grant EP/H001794/1. | en |
dc.description.abstract | We study pairwise interactions of elliptical quasi-geostrophic vortices as the limiting case of vanishingly thin uniform potential vorticity ellipsoids. In this limit, the product of the vertical extent of the ellipsoid and the potential vorticity within it is held fixed to a finite non-zero constant. Such elliptical 'lenses' inherit the property that, in isolation, they steadily rotate without changing shape. Here, we use this property to extend both standard moment models and Hamiltonian ellipsoidal models to approximate the dynamical interaction of such elliptical lenses. By neglecting non-elliptical deformations, the simplified models reduce the dynamics to just four degrees of freedom per vortex. For simplicity, we focus on pairwise interactions between identical elliptical vortices initially separated in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The dynamics of the simplified models are compared with the full quasi-geostrophic (QG) dynamics of the system, and show good agreement as expected for sufficiently distant lenses. The results reveal the existence of families of steadily rotating equilibria in the initial horizontal and vertical separation parameter space. For sufficiently large vertical separations, equilibria with varying shape exist for all horizontal separations. Below a critical vertical separation (stretched by the constant ratio of buoyancy to Coriolis frequencies N/f), comparable to the mean radius of either vortex, a gap opens in horizontal separation where no equilibria are possible. Solutions near the edge of this gap are unstable. In the full QG system, equilibria at the edge of the gap exhibit corners (infinite curvature) along their boundaries. Comparisons of the model results with the full nonlinear QG evolution show that the early stages of the instability are captured by the Hamiltonian elliptical model but not by the moment model that inaccurately estimates shorter-range interactions. | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics | en |
dc.rights | © 2016 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. | en |
dc.subject | Vortex patches | en |
dc.subject | Surface quasigeostrophy | en |
dc.subject | Moment models | en |
dc.subject | Equilibrium states | en |
dc.subject | Stability | en |
dc.subject | QA Mathematics | en |
dc.subject | QC Physics | en |
dc.subject | NDAS | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QA | en |
dc.subject.lcc | QC | en |
dc.title | Models of interacting pairs of thin, quasi-geostrophic vortices: steady-state solutions and nonlinear stability | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.contributor.sponsor | EPSRC | en |
dc.description.version | Publisher PDF | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Applied Mathematics | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute | en |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1080/03091929.2016.1250154 | |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | EP/H001794/1 | en |
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