A perturbation theory for the solitary-drift-vortex solutions of the Hasegawa-Mima equation

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Abstract
A multiple-scales adiabatic perturbation theory is presented describing the adiabatic dissipation of the solitary vortex-pair solutions of the Hasegawa-Mima equation. The vortex parameter transport equations are derived as solvability conditions for the asymptotic expansion and are identical with the transport equations previously derived by Aburdzhaniya et al. (1987) using an energy- and enstrophy-conservation balance procedure. The theoretical results are compared with high-resolution numerical simulations. Global properties such as the decay in the enstrophy and energy are accurately reproduced. Local properties such as the position of the centre of the vortex pair, decay of the extrema in the vorticity and stream-function fields, and the dilation of the vortex dipole are also in good agreement. In addition, time series of vorticity–stream-function scatter diagrams for the numerical simulations are presented to verify the adiabatic ansatz.