A further experiment on two-dimensional decaying turbulence on a rotating sphere

Shigeo Yoden(1), Keiichi Ishioka(2),
Yoshi-Yuki Hayashi(2) and Michio Yamada(2)

(1) Department of Geophysics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, JAPAN
(2) Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 153-8914, JAPAN

A series of numerical experiments on the two-dimensional decaying turbulence is performed for a non-divergent barotropic fluid on a rotating sphere by using a high-resolution spectral model. Time variations of the energy spectrum and the flow field are highly dependent on the rotation rate. In non-rotational cases, isolated coherent vortices emerge in the course of time development as in the planar two-dimensional turbulence. As the rotation rate increases, however, the evolution of the flow field changes drastically, and a westward circumpolar vortex appears in high-latitudes as well as zonal band structures in mid- and low-latitudes. Dependence of these features on the initial energy spectrum is investigated and the dynamics of such pattern formations is discussed.


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YODEN Shigeo <yoden@kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp>
Created: April 22, 1999