Second order potential vorticity and its potential applications

作     者：GAO ShouTing XU PengCheng LI Na ZHOU YuShu 

作者机构：Key Laboratory of Cloud-Precipitation Physics and Severe Storms Institute of Atmospheric PhysicsChinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Applied Mathematics Academy of Mathematics and System Sciences Chinese Academy of Sciences University of Chinese Academy of Sciences 

出 版 物：《Science China Earth Sciences》 (中国科学（地球科学英文版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第57卷第10期

页      面：2428-2434页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 070601[理学-气象学] 0708[理学-地球物理学] 070104[理学-应用数学] 0706[理学-大气科学] 0704[理学-天文学] 0701[理学-数学] 

基　　金：supported by the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.KZZD-EW-05-01) the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40921160379,40930950 and 40775031) 

主　　题：potential vorticity second order potential vorticity PV evolution PV gradient heavy rainfall 

摘      要：A new invariant, the second order potential vorticity(SPV), is derived in this paper. SPV is the dot product of vorticity and the potential vorticity(PV) gradient, and is proven conservative for a compressible, adiabatic and frictionless atmosphere. Research shows that the new invariant may be used to indicate the evolution of PV, because SPV includes all the information that determines PV evolution: the wind field, and the PV gradient. Furthermore, SPV is capable of diagnosing heavy precipitation because of the strong signals it presents in areas of heavy rainfall. SPV also shows great potential as a comprehensive conserved quantity for indicating the dynamical tropopause and baroclinic instability.