Article
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Evolution of a Stratified Turbulent Cloud under Rotation
Version 1
: Received: 12 September 2023 / Approved: 13 September 2023 / Online: 14 September 2023 (04:41:11 CEST)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Li, T.; Wan, M.; Chen, S. Evolution of a Stratified Turbulent Cloud under Rotation. Atmosphere 2023, 14, 1590. Li, T.; Wan, M.; Chen, S. Evolution of a Stratified Turbulent Cloud under Rotation. Atmosphere 2023, 14, 1590.
Abstract
Localized turbulence is common in geophysical flows, where the roles of rotation and stratification are paramount. In this study, we investigate the evolution of a stratified turbulent cloud under rotation. Recognizing that a turbulent cloud is composed of vortices of varying scales and shapes, we start our investigation with a single eddy. Compared to an eddy under pure rotation, the stratified eddy shows the physical manifestation of a known potential vorticity mode, appearing as a static stable vortex. In addition, the expected shift from inertial waves to inertial-gravity waves is observed. In our numerical simulations of the turbulent cloud, carried out at a constant Rossby number over a range of Froude numbers, stratification causes columnar structures to deviate from vertical alignment. This deviation increases with increasing stratification, slowing the expansion rate of the cloud. The observed characteristics of these columnar structures are consistent with the predictions of linear theory, particularly in their tilt angles and vertical growth rates, suggesting a significant influence of inertial-gravity waves. Using Lagrangian particle tracking, we have identified regions where wave activity dominates over turbulence. In scenarios of milder stratification, these inertial-gravity waves are responsible for a significant energy transfer away from the turbulent cloud, a phenomenon that attenuates with increasing stratification.
Keywords
localized turbulence; stratification; rotation; inertial-gravity waves
Subject
Physical Sciences, Fluids and Plasmas Physics
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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