Eye formation in rotating convection
| Quand ? |
Le 03/01/2017, de 10:45 à 12:00 |
|---|---|
| Où ? | Centre Blaise Pascal |
| Participants |
Ludivine Oruba |
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One of the most striking features of atmospheric vortices, such as tropical cyclones, is that they often develop a so-called eye; a region of reversed flow in and around the axis of the vortex. The key dynamical processes for this structure are still poorly understood. The ubiquitous appearance of eyes embedded within large-scale vortices suggests that the underlying mechanism by which they first form may be independent (partially if not wholly) of complexities such as the stratification or moist convection. To put the idea of a simple hydrodynamic mechanism to the test we considered what is, perhaps, the simplest system in which eyes may form; that of steady axisymmetric convection in a rotating Boussinesq. Our numerical experiments show that in this configuration, for
sufficiently vigorous flows, an eye can form. I will discuss the mechanism of eye formation in this idealised Fluid Mechanics model.
Reference: Oruba, Davidson & Dormy, accepted for publication in J. Fluid
Mech. (2016).