Atmospheric Circulation
This week we describe the mechanisms behind the atmospheric circulation in response to radiative imbalance imparted in the energy balance.
Readings
Bonus notes
Key Concepts
Questions to ponder
Definitions
Abbreviated Lecture Notes
Web links
This week we describe the mechanisms behind the atmospheric circulation in response to radiative imbalance imparted in the energy balance.
Readings
- B&H: Chapter 3 and Chapter 5, pp 47-71, 91-102
- Chapter 7 of R&V
Bonus notes
Key Concepts
- Rotation of Earth causes extra concerns, namely the need to conserve angular momentum
- Three-cell model includes Hadley and Ferrel cells
- The General Circulation is composed of both zonal-mean components and deviations (eddies)
- These large scale circulations thereby determine the overall depiction of climate across the globe
Questions to ponder
- Why does a one-cell model of global circulation fail to capture the circulation of the planet
- Why does a three-cell model fail to capture the circulation of the planet?
- How does the three-cell model provide general descriptors of the prevailing flow near the surface and aloft?
- Why do mid-latitude waves occur and how do they help assist in redistribution of energy latitudinally?
- Why does summer climate along the western and eastern coasts of the US differ so much?
Definitions
- Coriolis Force, Pressure Gradient Force
- Jet Stream
- Geopotential Height
- Adiabatic Processes
- Angular Momentum
- ITCZ
- Polar High, Subtropical High, Midlatitude Fronts
- Stationary and transient eddies
- Hadley cells
- Monsoons
Abbreviated Lecture Notes
Web links
- Animation of a high-resolution GCM from NCAR: note the depiction of several features of the general circulation
- Recent Global Circulation Fields and Anomalies from NOAA ERSL
- 250hPa winds
- Monthly climatology of the jet stream
- Inside the jet stream