Polar Vortices: Earth, Mars, and beyond

Abstract: 

The term “polar vortex” has become part of the everyday vocabulary (at least in the USA), but there is some confusion in the media, general public, and science community regarding what polar vortices are and how they are related to various weather events. Here I will clarify what is meant by polar vortices in the atmospheric science literature, and use observations, idealized fluid dynamical models, and general circulation models to examine the structure and dynamics of polar vortices on Earth and Mars (and perhaps beyond).