Atmospheric Ekman flows of the Northern Hemisphere with latitude and height in ellipsoidal coordinates

Abstract

In this paper, we study the atmospheric Ekman flows of the Northern Hemisphere related to latitude and height in ellipsoidal coordinates. Firstly, by using a suitable transformation, we convert the atmospheric Ekman equation into a second order elliptic partial differential equation. Further, we prove it is equivalent to a second order homogeneous ordinary differential equation with variable coefficients. Finally, we construct the explicit solution and give the laws of motion of the atmospheric Ekman flows.