Abstract
Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities (KHI) are known to be significant drivers
of atmospheric turbulence. Recent observations show KHI forming with
misaligned or angled billow segments that develop connecting vortex
tubes and knots (T&K); these features promote
distinctive, event-defining instability and mixing characteristics that
were not accounted for in prior idealized studies. Though T&K have been shown to increase mixing in KHI events with
low Richardson numbers (Ri), their influence in weakly KH-unstable,
less-idealized environments is unknown. Here we present modeling results
of KHI in the stratosphere to assess the impact of T&K
dynamics in weakly KH-unstable environments. Radiosonde wind and
temperature profiles from 22 February, 2006 near Lamont, Oklahoma
measured vertically offset shear and stability peaks near 16.15 km with
a minimum Ri = 0.11. Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of this event
reveal decreasing shear and increasing stratification, where Ri
increases to 0.2 as the shear and stratification peaks move to a common
altitude. The resulting KHI exhibit T&K features forming
adjacent to, and in superposition with, secondary convective
instabilities (CI) rather than superseding them as in prior
T&K studies with Ri = 0.05. Newly-discovered
“crankshaft” instabilities distort the billows and give rise to
secondary KHI with delayed, elevated dissipation. KHI that exhibit
T&K dynamics are found to accumulate ~60% greater mixing than
axially-uniform KHI with equal or lower mixing efficiency. The
substantial increase in mixing suggests significant contributions of
T&K dynamics to KHI events throughout the atmosphere that
remain unaddressed in general circulation models’ turbulence
parameterizations.