Nonlinear pulsations of horizontal jets

Abstract

A shallow-water model with horizontally nonuniform density is used to study the dynamics of jet flows that arise under the influence of buoyancy and the Coriolis force. Within this approach, the jet is described by a self-similar compactly-localized solution and interpreted as a band of shear flow having a temperature contrast with the ambient fluid. In addition to stationary states, the dynamics of such jets admit cyclonic rotation with a constant angular velocity and transverse nonlinear pulsations. The phase portrait corresponding to this model shows that regimes with pulsating jets develop along closed trajectories bounded by the separatrix loop. The theory predicts that the period for warm jet pulsations is longer than the inertial oscillation period caused by the Earth’s rotation, while for cold jet pulsations, it is shorter. Thus, only warm jets can have a noticeable effect on the atmospheric dynamics in the synoptic range. In particular, they may well be responsible for additional spectral peaks that appear in this range of wind speed fluctuations.