Collaborative Research: Atmospheric Wave and Vortex Dynamics

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9527315 Polvani This project represents an ongoing collaboration between Drs. Lorenzo Polvani of Columbia University (under this award) and Dr. Alan Plumb of MIT (ATM-9528471) concerning the dynamics of nonlinear atmospheric waves and vortices, with particular emphasis on applications to the stratosphere. In this work, a number of tools have been employed. Initially, the techniques of contour dynamics was used to study, at very high resolution, the characteristics of Rossby wave breaking under a variety of circumstances. The principal investigators then used a global, pseudospectral, shallow water model to look at the two-dimensional dynamics of nonlinear waves in the presence of nonconservative processes as well as a "contour advection" technique (a Lagrangian, high resolution, contour-following approach to depict transport in known flows. To extend these results, the PIs will examine the three-dimensional aspects of the interaction between Rossby waves and the stratospheric polar vortex using a multi-layer, pseudospectral, primitive equation model. They also will investigate various aspects of the tropospheric circulation related to Rossby wave dynamics - including atmospheric blocking and interactions between the Hadley circulation and midlatitude planetary waves. ***