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Nonlinear Gravitational Waves and Atmospheric Instability

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Abstract—

This is an outline of the main results of the study of dust devils (a type of atmospheric vortices) with a focus on the mechanism of vortex generation in an unstable stratified atmosphere. In the approximation of ideal hydrodynamics, a new nonlinear model of the generation of convective motions and dust devils in an unstable stratified atmosphere has been developed. Using nonlinear equations for internal gravity waves, the model of generation of convective cell plumes has been investigated in the axially symmetric approximation. It has been shown that, in a convectively unstable atmosphere with large-scale seed vorticity, the plumes extremely rapidly generate small-scale intense vertical vortices. The structure of radial, vertical, and toroidal velocity components in these vortices has been investigated. The structure of vertical vorticity and toroidal velocity in vortex areas that are limited by radius has been examined.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, program no. 28, within the state task of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123242, Moscow, Russia

    O. G. Onishchenko & O. A. Pokhotelov

  2. Institute of Space Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russia

    O. G. Onishchenko & N. M. Astafieva

Authors
  1. O. G. Onishchenko
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  2. O. A. Pokhotelov
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  3. N. M. Astafieva
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Correspondence to O. G. Onishchenko, O. A. Pokhotelov or N. M. Astafieva.

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Translated by V. Arutyunyan

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Onishchenko, O.G., Pokhotelov, O.A. & Astafieva, N.M. Nonlinear Gravitational Waves and Atmospheric Instability. Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 54, 1423–1429 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433818100079

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