Inertial instability plays a critical role in midlatitude jet dynamics.

In the inertial instability research lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences we are investigating and researching new ideas regarding how regions of inertial instabilty control jet dynamics and stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE)

This work is motivated by simulations of midlatitude cyclones with the University of Wisconsin Nonhydrostatic Modeling System (UWNMS), where mesoscale regions with large negative absolute vorticity often occur in the upper troposphere adjacent to locally enhanced intrusions of air with high ozone and potential vorticity (PV).