Abstract
This study investigates the parameter dependence of eddy heat flux in a homogeneous quasigeostrophic two-layer model on a β plane with imposed environmental vertical wind shear and quadratic frictional drag. We examine the extent to which the results can be explained by a recently proposed diffusivity theory for passive tracers in two-dimensional turbulence. To account for the differences between two-layer and two-dimensional models, we modify the two-dimensional theory according to our two-layer f-plane analyses reported in an earlier study. Specifically, we replace the classic Kolmogorovian spectral slope, −5/3, assumed to predict eddy kinetic energy spectrum in the former with a larger slope, −7/3, suggested by a heuristic argument and fit to the model results in the latter. It is found that the modified theory provides a reasonable estimate within the regime where both
Current affiliation: Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
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