Catastrophic Breakdown of Barotropic Vortices

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Smyth/Abstract ATM-9616766 I propose to investigate the stability of properties of barotropic, cirucular vortices in a stratified, rotating environment. This work will extend the results of Gent & McWilliams (1986) beyond the quasigeostrophic regime. I will document the transition between scale-selective instability in the quasigeostrophic regime and the castastrophic transitions to turbulence which characterizes the unstratified, non-rotating case. A number of vortex stability characteristics will be sought. THe proposed project is modest in scale, but should provide useful information to the geophysical fluid dynamics community, particularly with reference to the evolution of hurricanes and tropical cyclones.