Dynamics of tilted atmospheric vortices under asymmetric diabatic heating

The paper's second contribution is a series of three-dimensional numerical simulations examining the effect of different orientations of dipolar diabatic heating on idealized tropical cyclones. Comparisons with numerical solutions of the asymptotic equations yield evidence that supports the original theoretical predictions of Paschke et al. In addition, the influence of asymmetric diabatic heating on the time evolution of the vortex centerline is further analyzed, and a steering mechanism that depends on the orientation of the heating dipole is revealed.

Finally, the steering mechanism is traced back to the correlation of dipolar perturbations of potential temperature, induced by the vortex tilt, and vertical velocity, for which diabatic heating not necessarily needs to be responsible, but which may have other origins.