Energy Accumulation in Easterly Circumpolar Jets Generated by Two-Dimensional Barotropic Decaying Turbulence on a Rapidly Rotating Sphere

Abstract

A series of numerical experiments on two-dimensional decaying turbulence is performed for a barotropic fluid on a rotating sphere. Numerical calculations have confirmed two important asymptotic features: emergence of the banded structure of zonal flows and their extreme latitudinal inhomogeneities in which kinetic energy is accumulated into the easterly circumpolar jets. The banded structure of zonal flows is established relatively early on in the initial stage. Later, after extended periods of time integration, only the circumpolar jets are intensified gradually, while there is no further evolution in the banded structure in the low and midlatitudes. Wave activity flux analysis illustrates that the initial vortices in the low and midlatitudes propagate poleward as Rossby waves and converge to produce easterly circumpolar flows. In association with this convergence, accumulation of the mean zonal component of kinetic energy proceeds. The tendency for the accumulation becomes strong as the rotation rate is increased, and nearly all of the kinetic energy is concentrated to the circumpolar flows in cases of rapid rotation. A theoretical model is constructed under the assumption that a circumpolar jet emerges around the latitude where the local Rhines scale is equal to the distance from the Pole, and that initial vortices at the lower latitudes contribute to the generation of the jets. The model describes the mean zonal component of kinetic energy and the averaged speed and width of the circumpolar jets as functions of the rotation rate, which agree satisfactorily with the numerical results.