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contributor authorReasor, Paul D.
contributor authorMontgomery, Michael T.
contributor authorGrasso, Lewis D.
date accessioned2017-06-09T14:38:30Z
date available2017-06-09T14:38:30Z
date copyright2004/01/01
date issued2004
identifier issn0022-4928
identifier otherams-23398.pdf
identifier urihttp://onlinelibrary.yabesh.ir/handle/yetl/4159954
description abstractA new paradigm for the resiliency of tropical cyclone (TC) vortices in vertical shear flow is presented. To elucidate the basic dynamics, the authors follow previous work and consider initially barotropic vortices on an f plane. It is argued that the diabatically driven secondary circulation of the TC is not directly responsible for maintaining the vertical alignment of the vortex. Rather, an inviscid damping mechanism intrinsic to the dry adiabatic dynamics of the TC vortex suppresses departures from the upright state. Recent work has demonstrated that tilted quasigeostrophic vortices consisting of a core of positive vorticity surrounded by a skirt of lesser positive vorticity align through projection of the tilt asymmetry onto vortex Rossby waves (VRWs) and their subsequent damping (VRW damping). This work is extended here to the finite Rossby number (Ro) regime characteristic of real TCs. It is shown that the VRW damping mechanism provides a direct means of reducing the tilt of intense cyclonic vortices (Ro > 1) in unidirectional vertical shear. Moreover, intense TC-like, but initially barotropic, vortices are shown to be much more resilient to vertical shearing than previously believed. For initially upright, observationally based TC-like vortices in vertical shear, the existence of a ?downshear-left? tilt equilibrium is demonstrated when the VRW damping is nonnegligible. On the basis of these findings, the axisymmetric component of the diabatically driven secondary circulation is argued to contribute indirectly to vortex resiliency against shear by increasing Ro and enhancing the radial gradient of azimuthal-mean potential vorticity. This, in addition to the reduction of static stability in moist ascent regions, increases the efficiency of the VRW damping mechanism.
publisherAmerican Meteorological Society
titleA New Look at the Problem of Tropical Cyclones in Vertical Shear Flow: Vortex Resiliency
typeJournal Paper
journal volume61
journal issue1
journal titleJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences
identifier doi10.1175/1520-0469(2004)061<0003:ANLATP>2.0.CO;2
journal fristpage3
journal lastpage22
treeJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences:;2004:;Volume( 061 ):;issue: 001
contenttypeFulltext


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