Tropical cyclone size is strongly limited by the Rhines scale: experiments with a barotropic model

<p>This dataset contains MATLAB scripts and MAT-file data to generate all figures in the published JAS paper "Tropical cyclone size is strongly limited by the Rhines scale: experiments with a barotropic model" (Lu and Chavas 2022).</p>

<p>This dataset aims to examine how the Rhines scale limits the size of an individual TC. Experiments are performed using a simple barotropic model on a β-plane initialized with a TC-like axisymmetric vortex defined using a recently-developed theoretical TC wind profile model. β and initial vortex size are each systematically varied to investigate the detailed responses of the TC-like vortex to β. Results show that the vortex shrinks towards an equilibrium size that closely follows the vortex Rhines scale. A larger initial vortex relative to its vortex Rhines scale will shrink faster. The shrinking timescale is well-described by the vortex Rhines timescale, which is defined as the overturning timescale of the circulation at the vortex Rhines scale and is shown to be directly related to the Rossby wave group velocity.</p>

<p>The relationship between our idealized results and the real Earth is discussed in Lu and Chavas 2022. Our results may generalize to other eddy circulations, such as the extratropical cyclone.</p>