Modelling of geophysical vortices

The large-scale vortex structures that are commonly observed both in the oceans (e.g. Gulf Stream rings) and in the atmosphere (hurricanes, cyclones, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot) are in good approximation two-dimensional (2D), due to the combined effects of geometrical confinement (essentially, the oceans and atmosphere are thin fluid shells),density stratification, and planetary rotation. Their dynamics is governed by conservation of potential vorticity, which is here defined as PV=(f+¿)/H, with f the Coriolis parameter (=2Osin f, with O the planetary station speed, f the geographical latitude), the local relative vorticity, and H the local layer depth (column height)