Spontaneous superrotation and the role of Kelvin waves in an idealized dry GCM
Potter, Samuel F.; Vallis, Geoffrey K.; Mitchell, Jonathan L.
Date: 1 February 2014
Article
Journal
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The nondimensional parameter space of an idealized dry primitive equation model is explored to find superrotating climate states. The model has no convective parameterization and is forced using a simple thermal relaxation to a prescribed radiative equilibrium temperature. It is demonstrated that, of four nondimensional parameters that ...
The nondimensional parameter space of an idealized dry primitive equation model is explored to find superrotating climate states. The model has no convective parameterization and is forced using a simple thermal relaxation to a prescribed radiative equilibrium temperature. It is demonstrated that, of four nondimensional parameters that determine the model's state, only the thermal Rossby number has a significant effect on superrotation. The mode that drives the transition to superrotation in an intermediate-thermal-Rossby-number atmosphere is shown to behave like a Kelvin wave in the tropics. © 2014 American Meteorological Society.
Mathematics and Statistics
Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy
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