Stationary states of a pair of tangent identical vortex spots in a barotropic ocean

Abstract

The method for constructing limiting forms of steady states of vortex patches characterized by the presence of corners on the boundary is presented. The method is based on a continuation of the solution (the streamline which must coincide with the vortex boundary) when passing through the singular point to those part of the common vortex border whose tangent is continuous at the critical point. Limiting steady states of a pair of identical touching vortex patches are constructed for the cases of unlimited and circular barotropic oceans. It is found that, for the case of a circular ocean, the solution of maximum area is the domain bounded by two diameters intersecting at right angles. This conclusion is also valid for an unlimited ocean when the vortex pair of infinite area takes even/odd quadrants whose boundaries are formed by the asymptotes of solutions of finite area. The results add new members to the set of known exact analytical solutions of the problem of steady states of vortex patches.