Tropical climate dynamics. (2020)

• Record Type: Book
• Further Information: Note: Peter J. Webster.
• Authors: Webster, Peter J
• Contents: Preface xvii Acknowledgments xix Abbreviations xxiii 1 Climatology of the Tropical Atmosphere and Upper Ocean 1 1.1 The Growth of Tropical Meteorology 1 1.2 Seasonal Characteristics 4 1.2.1 Zonal Variability 5 1.2.1.1 Sea–Surface Temperature 5 1.2.1.2 Temperature and Humidity 5 1.2.1.3 Precipitation 6 1.2.1.4 Wind Fields 7 1.2.2 Spatial Variability in the Tropics 8 1.2.2.1 Surface Temperature 8 1.2.2.2 Precipitation 9 1.2.2.3 Surface Pressure 11 1.2.2.4 Wind Fields 12 1.2.2.5 Moisture Flux 13 1.2.3 Variability Along the Equator 14 1.2.3.1 Temperature and Moisture 14 1.2.3.2 Wind Fields 15 1.3 Macro-Scale Circulations 16 1.3.1 Hadley’s Circulation 16 1.3.2 Walker’s Circulation 17 1.3.3 Monsoon Circulations 19 1.3.3.1 Asian–Australasian Monsoons 20 1.3.3.2 Monsoons of the Americas 22 1.3.3.3 African Monsoon 23 1.3.4 Large-Scale Characteristics of Tropical Oceans 23 1.4 A Myriad of Variability 24 1.4.1 High-Frequency Variability 24 1.4.1.1 Waves in the Easterlies 25 1.4.1.2 Tropical Cyclones and Monsoon Depressions 26 1.4.1.3 The “Great Cloud Bands” 29 1.4.1.4 Mesoscale Convective Systems 29 1.4.2 Subseasonal Variability 29 1.4.3 Interannual Variability 31 1.4.3.1 El Niño and the Southern Oscillation 31 1.4.3.2 Atlantic Oscillations 32 1.4.3.3 Stratospheric Oscillations 33 1.4.4 Overlapping of Variance Bands: Waves Within Waves 33 Notes 34 2 Hydrological and Heat Exchange Processes 37 2.1 Water on Earth 38 2.1.1 An Inventory 38 2.1.2 Global Disposition of Rainfall 39 2.2 Thermodynamics of Water and Earth’s Climate 39 2.2.1 Implications of Clausius–Clapeyron 40 2.2.2 Role of Water in the Evolution of Earth’s Climate 41 2.2.3 Estimate of the Planetary Radiative Surface Temperature 42 2.3 Water and the Tropical System 43 2.3.1 Atmosphere 43 2.3.1.1 Clausius–Clapeyron and the Vertical Profiles of Temperature and Humidity 43 2.3.1.2 Distribution of Water Vapor and Liquid/Ice Water 44 2.3.1.3 Moisture, Lapse Rates and Gradients of Atmospheric Buoyancy 45 2.3.2 Ocean 46 2.3.2.1 Ocean Surface Layer: Warm and Fresh 49 2.3.2.2 Abyssal Water: Cold and Saline 49 2.3.2.3 The Thermocline 50 2.4 Buoyancy, Differential Buoyancy, and the Generation of Horizontal Body Forces 50 2.4.1 Concept of Buoyancy 50 2.4.2 Zonal Variability of Buoyancy Induced by Radiative Forcing 51 2.4.3 Poleward Heat Transport 51 2.5 Integrated Column Heating 53 2.5.1 Components of Total Heating 53 2.5.2 Latitudinal Distribution of Latent Heat Flux and Condensational Heating 54 2.5.3 Latitudinal Distributions of Total Columnar Heating 55 2.5.4 Longitudinal Disposition of Total Columnar Heating 56 2.5.5 Annual Cycle of Total Columnar Heating 56 2.6 Buoyancy in the Tropical Ocean 57 2.6.1 Net Heating of the Upper Ocean 58 2.6.2 Fresh Water Flux into the Tropical Ocean 59 2.6.3 Distribution of Ocean FB Buoyancy Flux 59 2.6.4 Observations of Ocean–Atmosphere Fluxes in the Tropics 61 2.6.4.1 Western Pacific Ocean Circulation Experiment (WEPOCS) 61 2.6.4.2 Surface Fluxes in the Bay of Bengal During JASMINE 63 2.7 Translations to the Broader Scale 66 2.7.1 Large-Scale Columnar Heating Gradients 66 2.7.2 Upper-Ocean Heating 68 2.8 Convection–SST Relationships and the Vertical Scale of Tropical Motions 68 2.9 Coupled Global Ocean–Atmosphere Synergies 70 2.9.1 The Notion of Interactive Zones 70 2.9.2 A Stable Global Interactive System 71 2.9.2.1 The Tropical Circulation 71 2.9.2.2 State of the Stratosphere 72 2.9.2.3 The Return Atmospheric Flow Between the Tropics and the Poles 72 2.9.2.4 The Polar Ocean–Atmosphere Interface and the Formation of Deep Water 72 2.9.2.5 The Return Ocean Flow Between the Poles and the Equator 73 2.9.2.6 Maintenance of the Warm Pool 73 2.10 Synthesis 73 Notes 73 3 Fundamental Processes 77 3.1 Some Fundamentals of Low-Latitude Atmospheric Dynamics 79 3.1.1 Basic Equations 79 3.1.2 Scaling Atmospheric Motions in the Tropics 80 3.1.2.1 Is the Tropical Atmosphere Hydrostatic? 81 3.1.2.2 A Consequence of Making the Hydrostatic Assumption: Total Kinetic Energy and the “Traditional Approximation” 82 3.1.2.3 Scaling Thermodynamic Variability in the Tropics 83 3.1.3 Early Interpretations 84 3.1.4 Conundrums 86 3.1.4.1 Hypothesis I: Tropical Convection is Driven by Extratropical Forcing 86 3.1.4.2 Hypothesis II: Convection Occurs Because of Reduced Static Stability in Regions of Convection 86 3.1.5 Geostrophic Adjustment in the Low-Latitude Atmosphere 87 3.1.5.1 Rossby Radius of Deformation (R) 87 3.1.5.2 Inertial Motion 88 3.1.5.3 Rotational or Buoyancy Waves? 89 3.1.5.4 Heating and Tropical Circulations 90 3.1.6 Overview 90 3.2 Dynamics of the Low-Latitude Upper Ocean 91 3.2.1 Scales of Motion 91 3.2.2 Geostrophic Adjustment in the Low-Latitude Ocean 93 3.2.3 Sverdrup Wind-Driven Transport 95 3.2.4 Ekman Transports 96 3.2.4.1 Formulation 96 3.2.4.2 Why is the Total Integrated Ekman Transport Orthogonal to the Surface Wind? 97 3.2.5 Induced Geostrophic Currents 98 3.2.6 Low-Latitude Wind-Driven Currents 99 3.2.6.1 Global Wind-Stress Fields and Surface Current Climatology 99 3.2.6.2 Geostrophic Currents 100 3.2.6.3 Currents and Counter-Currents 101 3.2.6.4 Equatorial Undercurrents 101 3.2.7 Overview 103 Notes 104 4 Kinematics of Equatorial Waves 107 4.1 Phase and Group Velocities, and Energy Propagation 107 4.1.1 Wave Characteristics in a Quiescent Basic State 107 4.1.1.1 Golf Ball in a Pond 107 4.1.1.2 Analysis of the Perturbation in the Pond 108 4.1.2 Kinematic Relationships Between Waves and Their Background Basic State 109 4.1.2.1 General Wave Kinematics in a Variable Basic Flow 110 4.1.2.2 Dispersion of Energy Away from a Source 111 4.1.2.3 Dispersion in a Quiescent or Constant Basic State 111 4.1.2.4 Constant Basic State 111 4.2 Dispersive and Non-dispersive Waves 111 4.3 Overview 112 Notes 113 5 Fundamental Prototypes of Tropical Systems 115 5.1 The Laplace Shallow Fluid System 115 5.1.1 Governing Equations 115 5.1.1.1 Use the Equatorial '� -Plane Approximation 115 5.1.1.2 Define Total Depth of the Fluid and the Background Basic State 116 5.1.1.3 Integrate the System in the Vertical 116 5.1.1.4 Linearization of the System 116 5.1.2 Doppler and Non-Doppler Effects 117 5.1.3 Equatorial Wave Equation 117 5.2 Upper Ocean 118 5.2.1 Governing Equations 118 5.2.2 Ocean Wave Equation 119 5.3 A Stratified Atmospheric Model 119 5.3.1 Separation of Variables 120 5.3.2 Basic Equations 120 5.3.3 Coupled Horizontal and Vertical Structure Equations 120 5.4 Forced and Free Solutions and the Choice of H 121 5.5 Some Remarks 123 Notes 123 6 Equatorial Waves in Simple Flows 125 6.1 Atmospheric Modes in a Constant Basic State: Constant Ū 125 6.1.1 Governing Equations for a Motionless Basic State (
• Edition: 1st
• Publisher Details: Chichester : Wiley Blackwell
• Publication Date: 2020
• Extent: 1 online resource
• Subjects: 551.6913; Tropical meteorology; Climatology; Tropics -- Climate
• Languages: English
• ISBNs: 9781118648452; 9781118648438
• Related ISBNs: 9780470662564
• Notes: Note: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Note: Description based on CIP data; resource not viewed.
• Access Rights: Legal Deposit; Only available on premises controlled by the deposit library and to one user at any one time; The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK).
• Access Usage: Restricted: Printing from this resource is governed by The Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations (UK) and UK copyright law currently in force.