Generation Of Potential Energy Research Articles

A diagnostic study of tropospheric diabatic heating and the generation of available potential energy

Calculations of the horizontal distribution of mid-tropospheric diabatic heating have been made through use of the first law of thermodynamics in conjunction with a simplified form of the vorticity equation. Objective analyses of the geopotential heights of the 850 and 500 mb surfaces over a region extending from the pole southward to approximately 15° N were utilized. Calculations of the daily distributions of the heat sources and sinks were obtained for the following months: January 1959, 1962, 1963; April 1961, 1962; July 1961, 1962; and October 1961, 1962. The daily distributions were then averaged within each month, and one of the resulting monthly distributions for each season is presented. Furthermore, the 9 monthly averaged zonal heating profiles are presented together with the latitudinal variation of the heat flux required to maintain these profiles. The zonal and eddy components of the generation of available potential energy were computed from the daily 500–850 mb thickness and heating patterns. The averaged zonal profiles of each component for each of the 9 months is presented. Furthermore, through a linear Fourier analysis method the eddy generation of available potential energy was obtained in the wave-number regime. The average monthly contribution and the standard deviation of the daily values were obtained for each of the 9 months for each harmonic from n = 1 to n = 20. The results of the monthly averaged heating patterns indicate that relatively intense heat sources and sinks exist during the winter months while the least intense ones exist in the summer months. An annual zonal heating maximum of 4 times 10 −3 kj t −1 sec −1 was found near 40° N and intense cooling existed in the high latitudes. All monthly averaged values of the zonal generation of available potential energy were positive with maximum values obtained for the winter months and minimum values obtained for the summer months. Results indicate that for the troposphere the available potential energy is generally destroyed by the eddies in all seasons except summer with the greatest destructions occurring in winter. Also, during winter the long waves, n = 1 to 5, are responsible for the majority of this destruction. The annual average of the zonal generation of available potential energy for the troposphere obtained from the 9 months considered here was + 19 times 10 −4 kj m −2 sec −1 and the corresponding value for the eddy generation was −9 times 10 −4 kj m −2 sec −1 . DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1964.tb00174.x

A diagnostic study of tropospheric diabatic heating and the generation of available potential energy

Calculations of the horizontal distribution of mid-tropospheric diabatic heating have been made through use of the first law of thermodynamics in conjunction with a simplified form of the vorticity equation. Objective analyses of the geopotential heights of the 850 and 500 mb surfaces over a region extending from the pole southward to approximately 15° N were utilized. Calculations of the daily distributions of the heat sources and sinks were obtained for the following months: January 1959, 1962, 1963; April 1961, 1962; July 1961, 1962; and October 1961, 1962. The daily distributions were then averaged within each month, and one of the resulting monthly distributions for each season is presented. Furthermore, the 9 monthly averaged zonal heating profiles are presented together with the latitudinal variation of the heat flux required to maintain these profiles.The zonal and eddy components of the generation of available potential energy were computed from the daily 500–850 mb thickness and heating patterns. The averaged zonal profiles of each component for each of the 9 months is presented. Furthermore, through a linear Fourier analysis method the eddy generation of available potential energy was obtained in the wave-number regime. The average monthly contribution and the standard deviation of the daily values were obtained for each of the 9 months for each harmonic from n = 1 to n = 20.The results of the monthly averaged heating patterns indicate that relatively intense heat sources and sinks exist during the winter months while the least intense ones exist in the summer months. An annual zonal heating maximum of 4×10-3 kj t-1 sec-1 was found near 40° N and intense cooling existed in the high latitudes. All monthly averaged values of the zonal generation of available potential energy were positive with maximum values obtained for the winter months and minimum values obtained for the summer months. Results indicate that for the troposphere the available potential energy is generally destroyed by the eddies in all seasons except summer with the greatest destructions occurring in winter. Also, during winter the long waves, n = 1 to 5, are responsible for the majority of this destruction. The annual average of the zonal generation of available potential energy for the troposphere obtained from the 9 months considered here was + 19×10-4 kj m-2 sec-1 and the corresponding value for the eddy generation was -9×10-4 kj m-2 sec-1.

TROPOSPHERIC HEAT SOURCES AND SINKS AT WASHINGTON, D.C., SUMMER 1961, RELATED TO THE PHYSICAL FEATURES AND ENERGY BUDGET OF THE CIRCULATION

Estimates of atmospheric heating in the troposphere at Washington, D.C., for each successive 12 hr. during June and July 1961, were used to study the relation between local heating and the large-scale features of the circulation, to determine the local production of available potential energy, and to assist in interpreting cloud and radiation data from meteorological satellites. Some interesting inter-connections are found between heating and the circulation: e.g., it is shown that there is a very critical phase relation between heating and the temperature field which is important in determining the generation or destruction of the atmosphere's potential energy. This suggests that special care is needed in designing numerical computations of diabatic heating. A major effort should be directed to interpreting satellite data in terms of the atmospheric heat budget, because such global estimates may be useful (using a procedure suggested in this paper) in determining the world-wide distribution of regions of maintenance or destruction of potential energy.

Preliminary Study of Quasi-Horizontal Eddy Fluxes from Meteorological Rocket Network Data

Abstract The meridional transport of relative angular momentum by transient eddies is computed from the wind data so far available from the Meteorological Rocket Network for the 25–60 km region. The transport is northward in winter and apparently of sufficient magnitude to account for the formation of the winter polar vortex. It is suggested that the eddies arise in response to the differential heating within the region produced by radiational effects. Zonal available potential energy and its generation are calculated and compared with the kinetic energy. The transformation of eddy kinetic energy to zonal kinetic energy is of the same order of magnitude as the generation of zonal available potential energy. The importance of eddy structures as compared with mean meridional motions appears to be similar to the earlier findings for the troposphere and lower stratosphere. It is concluded that the region from 25–60 km may generate its own kinetic energy in situ in winter and be essentially energetically indep...

Horizontal Variation of infrared Cooling and the Generation of Eddy Available Potential Energy

According to radiometersonde observations, the net vertical flux divergence of infrared radiation is positively correlated with the outward flux at the top of the atmosphere. Measurements of the latter quantity from the Explorer VII satellite are shown to he correlated with tropospheric temperature, such that warm air on the average is cooled less than cold air at the same latitude by infrared radiation. Calculations of the generation of eddy available potential energy by this process are presented and shown to be significant.

SOME ASPECTS OF A CYCLE OF AVAILABLE POTENTIAL ENERGY1

A large-scale cycle of available potential energy in the Northern Hemisphere over a period of about two weeks during late December 1958 and early January 1950 has been investigated in some detail. During this cycle the zonal available potential energy first built up strongly to a maximum, and then when it began to decline, increases in eddy available and eddy kinetic energy took place. These changes in the energy parameters were well related to variations in the poleward heat transport, large values of which signify substantial conversions from zonal to eddy available potential energy, and to variations in the conversion between potential and kinetic energy. Furthermore some estimates of the generation of available potential energy show good consistency with the available potential energy variations. Examination of this cycle of available potential energy on a regional basis indicates that it was almost completely dominated by developments over North America and vicinity. The synoptic events associated with this energy cycle are also illustrated.

SOME ASPECTS OF A CYCLE OF AVAILABLE POTENTIAL ENERGY1

Abstract A large-scale cycle of available potential energy in the Northern Hemisphere over a period of about two weeks during late December 1958 and early January 1950 has been investigated in some detail. During this cycle the zonal available potential energy first built up strongly to a maximum, and then when it began to decline, increases in eddy available and eddy kinetic energy took place. These changes in the energy parameters were well related to variations in the poleward heat transport, large values of which signify substantial conversions from zonal to eddy available potential energy, and to variations in the conversion between potential and kinetic energy. Furthermore some estimates of the generation of available potential energy show good consistency with the available potential energy variations. Examination of this cycle of available potential energy on a regional basis indicates that it was almost completely dominated by developments over North America and vicinity. The synoptic events asso...

On the Distribution of Heat Sources and Sinks in the Lower Troposphere and the Corresponding Generation of Potential Energy

On the Distribution of Heat Sources and Sinks in the Lower Troposphere and the Corresponding Generation of Potential Energy

EQUATIONS GOVERNING THE ENERGETICS OF THE LARGER SCALES OF ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE IN THE DOMAIN OF WAVE NUMBER

Abstract By considering the Fourier analysis of the planetary field of motion in the atmosphere, it is possible to define “scales” of motion and to write equations which govern the behavior of these separate scales of motion. Specifically, equations for the rate of change of the kinetic and available potential energy of a disturbance of a given wave number are presented. Such equations, which include the effects of the generation and release of potential energy, friction, and the transfer of energy among the various scales of eddies and the mean flow, can serve as a basis for studying the day-to-day variations of the spectral distribution of kinetic energy and for computing the “steady-state” atmospheric energy cycle in the domain of wave number, with the use of daily hemispheric data.