A Dynamical Systems Characterisation of Atmospheric Jet Regimes

Atmospheric jet streams are typically separated into primarily "eddy-driven", or "polar-front", jets and primarily "thermally-driven", or "subtropical" jets. Some regions also display "merged" jets, resulting from the (quasi) co-location of the regions of eddy generation with the subtropical jet. The different locations and driving mechanisms of these jets issue from very different underlying mechanisms, and result in very different jet characteristics. Here, we link the current understanding of the dynamical jet maintenance mechanisms, mostly issuing from conceptual or idealised models, to the phenomena observed 5 in reanalysis data. We specifically focus on developing a unitary analysis framework, grounded in dynamical systems theory, which may be applied to both idealised models and reanalysis, and allow for direct intercomparison. Our results illustrate the use of dynamical systems indicators to diagnose jet regimes. Copyright statement. TEXT