An exponential solution to the thermocline equations is scaled and calibrated for the intermediate circulation in middle latitudes of the open ocean in accordance with the scaling and results of the more complete numerical models of Bryan and Cox. Evaluation of the average potential vorticity for a number of stations is a main feature of the calibration method. The results of tests on the calib...

Synthetic floats are released in an ocean general circulation model to study fluid pathways followed by the upper limb of the meridional overturning circulation from the subtropical South Atlantic to the subtropical North Atlantic. The floats are designed to track this fundamentally three-dimensional, nonisentropic flow while sampling water properties and all terms of the equation governing the...

Ducted gravity waves are associated with potentially large perturbations in horizontal winds. It may be shown, neglecting friction, that these perturbations are maximized at the surface and minimized at the top of the wave duct, producing perturbation vertical wind shear as well. The magnitude of this shear is maximized in the wave ridge and the wave trough. The perturbation shear may be signif...

A composite distribution of tangential and upward components of air flow is determined by tracing particles of debris and cloud tag movements in scaled movies of a tornado. The greatest tangential speed measured is 170 m.p.h. and the greatest upward speed derived is 150 m.p.h. A distribution of the convergent radial component of motion in the lower 600 f t . of the vortex is synthesized and use...

By using direct numerical simulations (DNS) at unprecedented resolution, we study turbulence under rotation in the presence of simultaneous direct and inverse cascades. The accumulation of energy at large scale leads to the formation of vertical coherent regions with high vorticity oriented along the rotation axis. By seeding the flowwithmillions of inertial particles,wequantify—for the first t...

Several types of flows driven by outflows on the continental shelf are examined mathematically and numerically. Within a quasigeostrophic framework, a variety of vertical structures and topographies are used. Features are explained in terms of potential vorticity conservation. The combined effects of topography and anomalous vorticity of the outflow are studied. First, shelf-like topography is ...

The genesis of two mesovortices (MVs) within a real-data, convection-resolving simulation of the 8 May 2009 central U.S. bow echo system is studied. Both MVs form near the bow apex but differ distinctively in intensity, lifetime, and damage potential. The stronger and longer-livedmesovortex,MVa, stays near the bow apex where the system-scale rear-inflow jet (RIJ) is present. The descending RIJ ...

Reviewer 2: First, it suffers a lack of illustration. Indeed, a single figure appears, and intends to show the full geometry of the problem. For instance, from the figure, I cannot understand what is this “average current” (average in time, in ‘a’ coordinate? In ‘b’ coordinate?) Neither can I see a weak vorticity. Thus, the definition of vorticity is confusing. Another way to say the same thing...