Contraction Rate and its Relationship to Frontogenesis, the Lyapunov Exponent, Fluid Trapping, and Airstream Boundaries

Although a kinematic framework for diagnosing frontogenesis exists in the form of the Petterssen frontogenesis function and its vector generalization, a similar framework for diagnosing airstream boundaries (e.g., drylines, lee troughs) has not been constructed. This paper presents such a framework, beginning with a kinematic expression for the rate of change of the separation vector between two adjacent air parcels. The maximum growth rate of the separation vector is called the instantaneous dilatation rate and its orientation is called the axis of dilatation. Similarly, a maximum decay rate is called the instantaneous contraction rate and its orientation is called the axis of contraction. These expressions are related to the vector frontogenesis function, where the growth rate of the separation vector corresponds with the scalar frontogenesis function, and the rotation rate of the separation vector corresponds with the rotational component of the vector frontogenesis function. Because vorticity can rotate air-parcel pairs out of regions of deformation, the instantaneous dilatation and contraction rates and axes may not be appropriate diagnostics of airstream boundaries for fluid flows in general. Rather, the growth rate and orientation of an airstream