Chaotic mixing and fractals in a geophysical jet current
Abstract
We model Lagrangian lateral mixing and transport of passive scalars in meandering oceanic jet currents by two-dimensional advection equations with a kinematic stream function with a time-dependent amplitude of a meander imposed. The advection in such a model is known to be chaotic in a wide range of the meander's characteristics. We study chaotic transport in a stochastic layer and show that it is anomalous. The geometry of mixing is examined and shown to be fractal-like. The scattering characteristics (trapping time of advected particles and the number of their rotations around elliptical points) are found to have a hierarchical fractal structure as functions of initial particle's positions. A correspondence between the evolution of material lines in the flow and elements of the fractal is established.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1202.0350,
title = {Chaotic mixing and fractals in a geophysical jet current},
author = {M. V. Budyansky and S. V. Prants},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.0350},
year = {2012}
}