Structure and dynamics of concentrated mesoscale vortices in planetary atmospheres

O.G. Onishchenko^a, b, O.A. Pokhotelov^a, N.M. Astaf’eva^b, W. Horton^c, V.N. Fedun^d
^aSchmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Bolshaya Gruzinskaya ul. 10, Moscow, 123995, Russian Federation
^bSpace Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya str. 84/32, Moscow, 117997, Russian Federation
^cUniversity of Texas in Austin, University Station 1, Austin, TX, 78712, USA
^dThe University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Concentrated vortices are spatially localized structures with non-zero vorticity surrounded by a potential flow. These structures include a broad class of mesoscale vortices, such as dust devils, water vortices, and fire vortices, as well as larger-scale and more intense tornados. From a rather broad class of concentrated mesoscale vortices, dust devils are selected as the simplest and most easily observable structures owing to dust particles that play the role of tracers. This review aims at presenting the main results of studies of dust devils in the atmospheres of Earth and Mars. In the framework of ideal fluid dynamics, a recently proposed model is discussed which allows one to describe vortex structures that are fully localized in space. The results of numerical modeling of vortex dynamics and an analytic model of vortex generation in a convectively unstable atmosphere are briefly discussed.

Keywords: vortices, model of vortices, nonlinear structures, ideal fluid dynamics
PACS: 92.10.ak, 92.60.Fm, 92.60.hk (all)
DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2019.07.038611
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2020/7/d/
Web of Science

000575189200004
Scopus

2-s2.0-85092530340
ADS NASA

2020PhyU...63..683O
Citation: Onishchenko O G, Pokhotelov O A, Astaf’eva N M, Horton W, Fedun V N "Structure and dynamics of concentrated mesoscale vortices in planetary atmospheres" Phys. Usp. 63 683–697 (2020)

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PT Journal Article
TI Structure and dynamics of concentrated mesoscale vortices in planetary atmospheres
AU Onishchenko O G
FAU Onishchenko OG
AU Pokhotelov O A
FAU Pokhotelov OA
AU Astaf’eva N M
FAU Astaf’eva NM
AU Horton W
FAU Horton W
AU Fedun V N
FAU Fedun VN
DP 10 Jul, 2020
TA Phys. Usp.
VI 63
IP 7
PG 683-697
RX 10.3367/UFNe.2019.07.038611
URL https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2020/7/d/
SO Phys. Usp. 2020 Jul 10;63(7):683-697

Received: 19th, April 2019, revised: 4th, July 2019, accepted: 11th, July 2019

Оригинал: Онищенко О Г, Похотелов О А, Астафьева Н М, Хортон В, Федун В Н «Структура и динамика концентрированных мезомасштабных вихрей в атмосферах планет» УФН 190 732–748 (2020); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2019.07.038611