Simulation output and analysis code for ‘Axisymmetric Analysis of Tornado-Like Vortices in Simulated Supercells’ by Rotunno and Markowski

This dataset contains the simulation output and analysis code used by Rotunno and Markowski for their article, “Axisymmetric Analysis of Tornado-Like Vortices in Simulated Supercells.” Present-day simulations of supercell thunderstorms have the high resolution and incorporate the physical processes known be conducive to simulating tornado-like vortices (TLVs). In such supercell simulations, TLVs are identified by the strength, duration and location of the vertical vorticity in the simulated supercell. To bring the analysis of these supercell-produced TLVs a step closer to observations and theory, the TLV in an advanced supercell simulation is identified as the tornado center, the Cartesian model velocities are transformed to cylindrical coordinates and azimuthally averaged. The azimuthally averaged TLV exhibits many of the observed and theoretically modeled features of tornadoes, including an end-wall vortex with strong maximum vertical and azimuthal velocities close to the ground with transition to the weaker core velocities aloft through vortex breakdown. A theory for the rotating-flow boundary layer with radial and azimuthal inflow velocities modeled on the axisymmetric analysis is shown to produce good qualitative agreement with the analyzed axisymmetric TLVs; however, the theoretical maximum vertical and tangential velocities are too large as the theory does not account for vortex breakdown.