TY - JOUR
T1 - Are geostrophic and quasi-geostrophic approximations valid in Venus' differential super-rotation?
AU - Yamamoto, Masaru
AU - Tanaka, Hiroshi
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Drs T. Imamura and T. Tokano for their useful suggestions and discussions, and Dr M. Takahashi for graciously approving the use of the AGCM data. This study is partially supported by the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (No. 14740278).
PY - 2006/6
Y1 - 2006/6
N2 - Geostrophic dynamics in the horizontally differential super-rotation of Venus are examined using fA (the Coriolis parameter defined by the angular velocity of a basic flow in an inertial frame) and Γ (the differential rotation parameter defined by the latitudinal gradient of the angular velocity) under the conditions that vertical shear of the basic field is not considered and the intrinsic phase velocity has a magnitude comparable to that of an eddy horizontal flow. The geostrophic and quasi-geostrophic approximations are valid in the regions of weakly differential and rigid-body super-rotations; however, they are invalid in the regions of strongly differential super-rotation even when the Rossby number RO is sufficiently smaller than unity for synoptic eddies. In a general circulation model of a Venus-like atmosphere, the horizontal divergence that results from the strong differential cannot be ignored over a wide range within latitudes ±60° and below 60 km elevation because of large Γ/fA(≥1/2).
AB - Geostrophic dynamics in the horizontally differential super-rotation of Venus are examined using fA (the Coriolis parameter defined by the angular velocity of a basic flow in an inertial frame) and Γ (the differential rotation parameter defined by the latitudinal gradient of the angular velocity) under the conditions that vertical shear of the basic field is not considered and the intrinsic phase velocity has a magnitude comparable to that of an eddy horizontal flow. The geostrophic and quasi-geostrophic approximations are valid in the regions of weakly differential and rigid-body super-rotations; however, they are invalid in the regions of strongly differential super-rotation even when the Rossby number RO is sufficiently smaller than unity for synoptic eddies. In a general circulation model of a Venus-like atmosphere, the horizontal divergence that results from the strong differential cannot be ignored over a wide range within latitudes ±60° and below 60 km elevation because of large Γ/fA(≥1/2).
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U2 - 10.1080/03091920600748266
DO - 10.1080/03091920600748266
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33748577992
SN - 0309-1929
VL - 100
SP - 185
EP - 195
JO - Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
JF - Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
IS - 3
ER -