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Potential Vorticity anomaly vortex over Texas and Louisiana

By Scott Bachmeier •

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images, with contours of RAP40 model PV1.5 Pressure plotted in red and Pilot Reports of Turbulence plotted in yellow/cyan [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

GOES-16 (GOES-East) Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) images (above) displayed an isolated vortex of very dry air moving over Texas and Louisiana on 24 March 2022. Contours of RAP40 model PV1.5 Pressure — a representation of the “dynamic tropopause” — indicated that this dry feature was a Potential Vorticity (PV) anomaly, which forced the local tropopause to briefly descend as low as the 650 hPa pressure level as the feature passed over that region.

Aircraft flying in the vicinity of such PV anomaly vortices sometimes encounter turbulence within the middle to upper troposphere, near altitudes where the tropopause is being perturbed — and in this case there were 3 pilot reports of moderate turbulence near or within the dry water vapor vortex signature (below).

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) image at 1621 UTC, with contours of RAP40 model PV1.5 Pressure plotted in red and Pilot Reports of Turbulence plotted in yellow/cyan [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) image at 2301 UTC, with contours of RAP40 model PV1.5 Pressure plotted in red and Pilot Reports of Turbulence plotted in yellow/cyan [click to enlarge]

GOES-16 Mid-level Water Vapor (6.9 µm) image at 0131 UTC, with contours of RAP40 model PV1.5 Pressure plotted in red and Pilot Reports of Turbulence plotted in yellow/cyan [click to enlarge]

Categories: Aviation, GOES-16