Weather Clim. Dynam., 1, 63–91, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-63-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Idealised simulations of cyclones with robust symmetrically unstable sting jets Ambrogio Volonté1,2, Peter A. Clark1, and Suzanne L. Gray1 1Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB, UK 2National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6BB, UK Correspondence: Ambrogio Volonté (
[email protected]) Received: 27 September 2019 – Discussion started: 1 October 2019 Revised: 28 January 2020 – Accepted: 5 February 2020 – Published: 26 February 2020 Abstract. Idealised simulations of Shapiro–Keyser cyclones and the amount of instability occurring along it can still be developing a sting jet (SJ) are presented. Thanks to an im- identified. proved and accurate implementation of thermal wind balance In summary, the idealised simulations presented in this in the initial state, it was possible to use more realistic en- study show the robustness of SJ occurrence in intense vironments than in previous idealised studies. As a conse- Shapiro–Keyser cyclones and support and clarify the role of quence, this study provides further insight into SJ evolution dry instabilities in SJ dynamics. and dynamics and explores SJ robustness to different envi- ronmental conditions, assessed via a wide range of sensitivity experiments. The control simulation contains a cyclone that fits the 1 Introduction Shapiro–Keyser conceptual model and develops a SJ whose dynamics are associated with the evolution of mesoscale in- The current state of knowledge about sting jets (SJs) was re- stabilities along the airstream, including symmetric instabil- cently reviewed by Clark and Gray(2018, CG18 hereafter).