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www.adv-geosci.net/15/17/2008/
doi:10.5194/adgeo-15-17-2008
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The energy spectrum in a barotropic atmosphere
Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile
on leave from: A. M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Abstract. In a forced-dissipative barotropic model of the atmosphere on a spherical planet, by following mathematical techniques in (Thompson, P. D.: The equilibrium energy spectrum of randomly forced two-dimensional turbulence, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 30, 1593–1598, 1973) but applying them in a novel context of the discrete spectrum on a rotating sphere, the "minus 2" energy spectrum for wavenumbers much greater than a characteristic wavenumber of the baroclinic forcing has been obtained if the forcing is taken in the simplest and most fundamental form. Some observation-based atmospheric kinetic energy spectra, with their slopes lying between "minus 2" and "minus 3" laws, are discussed from the perspective of the deduced "minus 2" energy spectrum.
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Citation: Kurgansky, M. V.: The energy spectrum in a barotropic atmosphere, Adv. Geosci., 15, 17-22, doi:10.5194/adgeo-15-17-2008, 2008. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
