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This book gives a coherent development of the current understanding of the fluid dynamics of the middle latitude atmosphere. It is primarily aimed at post-graduate and advanced undergraduate level students and does not assume any previous knowledge of fluid mechanics, meteorology or atmospheric science. The book will be an invaluable resource for any quantitative atmospheric scientist who wishes to increase their understanding of the subject. The importance of the rotation of the Earth and the stable stratification of its atmosphere, with their implications for the balance of larger-scale flows, is highlighted throughout. Clearly structured throughout, the first of three themes deals with the development of the basic equations for an atmosphere on a rotating, spherical planet and discusses scale analyses of these equations. The second theme explores the importance of rotation and introduces vorticity and potential vorticity, as well as turbulence. In the third theme, the concepts developed in the first two themes are used to give an understanding of balanced motion in real atmospheric phenomena. It starts with quasi-geostrophic theory and moves on to linear and nonlinear theories for mid-latitude weather systems and their fronts. The potential vorticity perspective on weather systems is highlighted with a discussion of the Rossby wave propagation and potential vorticity mixing covered in the final chapter.
Auteur
Having gained mathematics degrees from Cambridge and spent some
post-doc years in the USA, Brian Hoskins has been at the
University of Reading for more than 40 years, being made a
professor in 1981, and also more recently has led a climate
institute at Imperial College London. His international
activities have included being President of IAMAS and Vice-Chair of
the JSC for WCRP. He is a member of the science academies of the
UK, Europe, USA and China, he has received the top awards of both
the Royal and American Meteorological Societies, the Vilhelm
Bjerknes medal of the EGU and the Buys Ballot Medal, and he was
knighted in 2007.
From a background in physics and astronomy, Ian James
worked in the geophysical fluid dynamics laboratory of the
Meteorological Office before joining the University of Reading in
Contenu
Series foreword ix
Preface xi
Select bibliography xv
The authors xix
1 Observed flow in the Earth's midlatitudes 1
1.1 Vertical structure 1
1.2 Horizontal structure 4
1.3 Transient activity 11
1.4 Scales of motion 14
1.5 The Norwegian frontal model of cyclones 15
Theme 1 Fluid dynamics of the midlatitude atmosphere 25
2 Fluid dynamics in an inertial frame of reference 27
2.1 Definition of fluid 27
2.2 Flow variables and the continuum hypothesis 29
2.3 Kinematics: characterizing fluid flow 30
2.4 Governing physical principles 35
2.5 Lagrangian and Eulerian perspectives 36
2.6 Mass conservation equation 38
2.7 First Law of Thermodynamics 40
2.8 Newton's Second Law of Motion 41
2.9 Bernoulli's Theorem 45
2.10 Heating and water vapour 47
3 Rotating frames of reference 53
3.1 Vectors in a rotating frame of reference 53
3.2 Velocity and Acceleration 55
3.3 The momentum equation in a rotating frame 56
3.4 The centrifugal pseudo-force 57
3.5 The Coriolis pseudo-force 59
3.6 The TaylorProudman theorem 61
4 The spherical Earth 65
4.1 Spherical polar coordinates 65
4.2 Scalar equations 67
4.3 The momentum equations 68
4.4 Energy and angular momentum 70
4.5 The shallow atmosphere approximation 73
4.6 The beta effect and the spherical Earth 74
5 Scale analysis and its applications 77
5.1 Principles of scaling methods 77
5.2 The use of a reference atmosphere 79
5.3 The horizontal momentum equations 81
5.4 Natural coordinates, geostrophic and gradient wind balance 83
5.5 Vertical motion 87
5.6 The vertical momentum equation 89
5.7 The mass continuity equation 91
5.8 The thermodynamic energy equation 92
5.9 Scalings for Rossby numbers that are not small 95
6 Alternative vertical coordinates 97
6.1 A general vertical coordinate 97
6.2 Isobaric coordinates 100
6.3 Other pressure-based vertical coordinates 103
6.4 Isentropic coordinates 106
7 Variations of density and the basic equations 109
7.1 Boussinesq approximation 109
7.2 Anelastic approximation 111
7.3 Stratification and gravity waves 113
7.4 Balance, gravity waves and Richardson number 115
7.5 Summary of the basic equation sets 121
7.6 The energy of atmospheric motions 122
Theme 2 Rotation in the atmosphere 125
8 Rotation in the atmosphere 127
8.1 The concept of vorticity 127
8.2 The vorticity equation 129
8.3 The vorticity equation for approximate sets of equations 131
8.4 The solenoidal term 132
8.5 The expansion/contraction term 134
8.6 The stretching and tilting terms 135
8.7 Friction and vorticity 138
8.8 The vorticity equation in alternative vertical coordinates 144
8.9 Circulation 145
9 Vorticity and the barotropic vorticity equation 149
9.1 The barotropic vorticity equation 149
9.2 Poisson's equation and vortex interactions 151
9.3 Flow over a shallow hill 155
9.4 Ekman pumping 159
9.5 Rossby waves and the beta plane 160
9.6 Rossby group velocity 166
9.7 Rossby ray tracing 170
9.8 Inflexion point instability 172
10 Potential vorticity 177
10.1 Potential vorticity 177
10.2 Alternative derivations of Ertel's theorem 180
10.3 The principle of invertibility 182
10.4 Shallow water equation potential vorticity 186
11 Turbulence and atmospheric flow 189
11.1 The Reynolds number 189 11...