Upper-tropospheric Vortex Street and its Formation Mechanism

Abstract

Upper-tropospheric vortices having a horizontal wavelength of 300-400 km were observed on water vapor images of the Japanese geostationary satellite (MTSAT-1). Grid point values predicted by the Regional Spectral Model of the Japan Meteorological Agency show that the vortices were located along a zonal belt with strong cyclonic shear and horizontal convergence. A quasi-geostrophic linear stability analysis of the basic flow having horizontal and vertical shear shows that the fastest growing mode has a horizontal wavelength, a phase speed and a growth rate that reasonably agree with those of the satellite observation. The amplitude of the fastest growing mode is confined to a region having a meridional width of 2 degrees and a vertical depth of 2 km. An energy budget analysis shows that barotropic instability is the dominant generation mechanism for the growing mode.