ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-9-7591-2009 Clarification on the generation of absolute and potential vorticity in mesoscale convective vortices Conzemius R. J. 1 2 Montgomery M. T. 1 3 Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA WindLogics Inc., Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA 12 10 2009 9 19 7591 7605 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/7591/2009/acp-9-7591-2009.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/7591/2009/acp-9-7591-2009.pdf

In this paper, we clarify several outstanding issues concerning the predominant mechanism of vorticity generation in mesoscale convective vortices (MCVs) in weak to modest baroclinic environments with nonzero Coriolis parameter. We examine also the corresponding diabatic heating profiles of the convective and stratiform components of the MCS and their effects on the concentration and dilution of PV substance.

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