Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter elaborates the balance conditions in the earth's climate system. The oceans play a central role in handing over angular momentum from the atmosphere to the land masses. A useful way of diagnosing the climatic system is through the analysis of the cycles of angular momentum, water substance, and energy. It is found that through the analysis of the pathways of these three central and very distinct physical quantities, the inter-relationships among the various climatic subsystems become clearer. The observed cycle of relative angular momentum computed from direct wind observations in the atmosphere is presented in this chapter. Westerly angular momentum is extracted from the Earth's surface in the tropics, transported upward in the tropical Hadley cells, then transported poleward in the upper troposphere, and finally returned down to the Earth's surface in the middle latitudes. The energy balance in the terrestrial branch of a latitudinal belt extending throughout the depth of the ocean is also examined.
Published Version
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