Abstract
Abstract The horizontal and vertical scales of transient atmospheric disturbances are determined from the general circulation statistics compiled by A. Oort at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. The horizontal scale is ∼ 1000 km (corresponding with a wavelength of ∼6000 km) in both zonal and meridional directions and tends to increase toward the equator. The vertical scale is about equal to the scale height of the atmosphere (8 km) and tends to increase with height and decrease toward the equator. The time scale for these transients is estimated by comparing the daily and monthly variances for various quantities (including temperature, geopotential and wind). The time scale for the wind is about 2–4 days in both high and low latitudes. The time scales for temperature and geopotential are 2–5 days in high and middle latitudes but increase to 5–10 days in the tropics. These space and time scales are used to estimate the sampling errors in spatial and time averages, which are due to these transients.
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