The connection between transport barriers and potential vorticity (PV)
barriers in PV-conserving flows is investigated with a focus on zonal jets in
planetary atmospheres. A perturbed PV-staircase model is used to illustrate
important concepts. This flow consists of a sequence of narrow eastward and
broad westward zonal jets with a staircase PV structure; the PV-steps are at
the latitudes of the cores of the eastward jets. Numerically simulated
solutions to the quasigeostrophic PV conservation equation in a perturbed
PV-staircase flow are presented. These simulations reveal that both eastward
and westward zonal jets serve as robust meridional transport barriers. The
surprise is that westward jets, across which the background PV gradient
vanishes, serve as robust transport barriers. A theoretical explanation of the
underlying barrier mechanism is provided. It is argued that transport barriers
near the cores of westward zonal jets, across which the background PV gradient
is small, are found in Jupiter's midlatitude weather layer and in the Earth's
summer hemisphere subtropical stratosphere.Comment: Accepted for publication in JA
