Three-dimensionalization of barotropic vortices on the f-plane

Abstract

We examine the stability characteristics of a two-dimensional flow which consists initially of an inflexionally unstable shear layer on an f-plane. Under the action of the primary instability, the vorticity in the shear-layer initially coalesces into two Kelvin–Helmholtz vortices which subsequently merge to form a single coherent vortex. At a sequence of times during this process, we test the stability of the two-dimensional flow to fully three-dimensional perturbations. A somewhat novel approach is developed which removes inconsistencies in the secondary stability analyses which might otherwise arise owing to the time-dependence of the two-dimensional flow.In the non-rotating case, and before the onset of pairing, we obtain a spectrum of unstable longitudinal modes which is similar to that obtained previously by Pierrehumbert & Widnall (1982) for the Stuart vortex, and by Klaassen & Peltier (1985, 1989, 1991) for more realistic flows. In addition, we demonstrate the existence of a new sequence of three-dimensional subharmonic (and therefore ‘helical’) instabilities. After pairing is complete, the secondary instability spectrum is essentially unaltered except for a doubling of length- and timescales that is consistent with the notion of spatial and temporal self-similarity. Once pairing begins, the spectrum quickly becomes dominated by the unstable modes of the emerging subharmonic Kelvin–Helmholtz vortex, and is therefore similar to that which is characteristic of the post-pairing regime. Also in the context of non-rotating flow, we demonstrate that the direct transfer of energy into the dissipative subrange via secondary instability is possible only if the background flow is stationary, since even slow time-dependence acts to decorrelate small-scale modes and thereby to impose a short-wave cutoff on the spectrum.The stability of the merged vortex state is assessed for various values of the planetary vorticity f. Slow rotation may either stabilize or destabilize the columnar vortices, depending upon the sign of f, while fast rotation of either sign tends to be stabilizing. When f has opposite sign to the relative vorticity of the two-dimensional basic state, the flow becomes unstable to new mode of instability that has not been previously identified. Modes whose energy is concentrated in the vortex cores are shown to be associated, even at non-zero f, with Pierrehumbert's (1986) elliptical instability. Through detailed consideration of the vortex interaction mechanisms which drive instability, we are able to provide physical explanations for many aspects of the three-dimensionalization process.