[Grad-postdoc-assn] ASP Seminar Wednesday: Jeffrey Weiss

[Mike Waite]

Hello all,

A reminder that the first ASP Seminar of 2007 will be held this 
Wednesday.  Please plan to attend, and to stay for lunch afterwards.

Coherent Structures in Geophysical Turbulence

Jeffrey Weiss
University of Colorado, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

Wednesday, 31 January, 11:00 am -- 12:00 pm (Coffee etc from 10:30 am; 
lunch to follow)

FL-2 Auditorium (Rm 1022)

Abstract:

Large scale atmospheric and oceanic flows are extremely turbulent and 
are strongly influenced by rapid rotation and strong stable 
stratification. Such flows spontaneously self-organize into coherent 
structures such as jets and vortices. Recent work shows the importance 
of vortices for dynamics and transport, and the impact of vortices on 
chemical reactions. The mechanisms for evolution of the vortex 
population are studied, showing the role of vortex merger and alignment. 
Scaling theories based explicitly on the vortices successfully capture 
the turbulent evolution.