• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.344-355
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• 2020

Tropical cyclone scale vortices and associated Rossby waves were investigated numerically using high-resolution barotropic models on the global domain. The equations of the barotropic model were discretized using the spectral transform method with the spherical harmonics function as orthogonal basis. The initial condition of the vortex was specified as an axisymmetric flow in the gradient wind balance, and four types of basic zonal states were employed. Vortex tracks showed similar patterns as those on the beta-plane but exhibited more eastward displacement as they moved northward. The zonal-mean flow appeared to control not only the west-east translation but also the meridional translation of the vortex. Such a meridional influence was revealed to be associated with the beta gyre and the Rossby wave, which are formed around the vortex due to the beta effect. In the case of the basic zonal state of climatological mean, the meridional translation speed reached the maximum value when the vortex underwent recurving.

• Journal of the korean society of oceanography
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.75-88
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• 1996

The analytic and numerical solution of the 1$\frac{1}{2}$-layer and 2$\frac{1}{2}$-layer models are derived. The large coastal-sea level drop and the fast westward speed of the anticyclonic gyre due to strong offshore winds using two ocean models are investigated. The models are forced by wind stress fields similar in structure to the intense mountain-pass jets(${\sim}$20 dyne/$cm^{2}$) that appear in the Gulfs of Tehuantepec and Papagayo in the Central America for periods of 3${\sim}$7 days. Analytic and numerical solutions compare favorably with observations, the large sea-level drop (${\sim}$30 cm) at the coast and the fast westward propagation speeds (${\sim}$13 km/day) of the gyres. The coastal sea-level drop is enhanced by several factors: horizontal mixing, enhanced forcing, coastal geometry, and the existence of a second active layer in the 2$\frac{1}{2}$-layer model. Horizontal mixing enhances the sea-level drop because the coastal boundary layer is actually narrower with mixing. The forcing ${\tau}$/h is enhanced near the coast where h is thin. Especially, in analytic solutions to the 2$\frac{1}{2}$-layer model the presence of two baroclinic modes increases the sea-level drop to some degree. Of theses factors the strengthened forcing ${\tau}$/h has the largest effect on the magnitude of the drop, and when all of them are included the resulting maximum drop is -30.0 cm, close to observed values. To investigate the processes that influence the propagation speeds of anticyclonic gyre, several test wind-forced calculations were carried out. Solutions to dynamically simpler versions of the 1$\frac{1}{2}$-layer model show that the speed is increased both by ${\beta}$-induced self-advection and by larger h at the center ofthe gyres. Solutions to the 2$\frac{1}{2}$-layer model indicate that the lower-layer flow field advects the gyre westward and southward, significantly increasing their propagation speed. The Papagayo gyre propagates westward at a speed of 12.8 km/day, close to observed speeds.