A nonlinear oscillator describing storm track variability

We construct a two‐variable model that describes the interaction between local baroclinicity and eddy heat flux in order to understand aspects of the variance in storm tracks. It is a heuristic model for diabatically forced baroclinic instability close to baroclinic neutrality. The two‐variable mode...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Quarterly journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 2014-10, Vol.140 (685), p.2680-2684
Main Authors: Ambaum, Maarten H. P., Novak, Lenka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
baroclinicity
Brackish
convection
Cyclones
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Marine
Meteorology
nonlinear oscillator
storm track
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Summary:We construct a two‐variable model that describes the interaction between local baroclinicity and eddy heat flux in order to understand aspects of the variance in storm tracks. It is a heuristic model for diabatically forced baroclinic instability close to baroclinic neutrality. The two‐variable model has the structure of a nonlinear oscillator. It exhibits some realistic properties of observed storm track variability, most notably the intermittent nature of eddy activity. This suggests that apparent threshold behaviour can be more accurately and succinctly described by a simple nonlinearity. An analogy is drawn with the triggering of convective events.
ISSN:0035-9009
1477-870X
DOI:10.1002/qj.2352