Relative vorticity of simulated barotropic flow on a rotating sphere that shows the formation of jets and also structures at mid to high latitudes. Coordinate singularities at the poles are avoided by the use of a spherical geodesic grid with 163,842 cells.

J. B. Marston, E. Conover, and Tapio Schneider. "Statistics of an Unstable Barotropic Jet from a Cumulant Expansion," arXiv:0705.0011, J. Atmos. Sci. 65, 1955 (2008).

Image courtesy: Dr. J. B. Marston, Brown University.