Higher Order Lamb-Chaplygin Vortices, Chaplygin Antisymmetric Vortices, and Atmospheric Blocking

TL;DR

This paper explores advanced vortex solutions based on Chaplygin's equations, revealing how small asymmetries significantly alter vortex topology and potentially explain atmospheric blocking phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces higher-order vortex solutions and demonstrates the impact of asymmetry on vortex topology, offering new insights into atmospheric blocking mechanisms.

Findings

Higher-order vortex solutions differ from simple dipoles.

Small asymmetries dramatically change vortex topology.

Potential relevance to atmospheric blocking phenomena.

Abstract

The equations describing the two-dimensional vortices first described by Chaplygin in 1899 and 1903 are shown to have solutions of higher order that differ from a simple dipole. It is also shown that for these higher-order vortices a very small asymmetry dramatically changes the topology of the stream function. These vortices could be important for understanding the phenomenon of atmospheric blocking.