On the Mean Meridional Circulation in the Atmosphere

[摘要]  The longitude-mean meridional circulation,which is determined through the balance requirement of angular momentum, is discussed and computed in the case of winter and summer, 1949. Main occur in the estimation of frictional dissipation and vertical eddy transport of angular momentum. Theoretical treatments for the adiabatic, frictionless disturbance are developed assuming the phase angle of each wave component of disturbance to be random, and, a rlation between the accumulation of angular momentum by three-dimensional eddy process and the horizontal eddy transport of sensible heat is found. This relation makes it possible to estimate the direction and the strength of meridional circulation if the horizontal eddy transport of sensible heat and frictional dissipation are known.  Under the conditions which exist in the atmosphere, it is concluded that there is a three-cell meridional circulation in the troposphere with an indirect cell (Ferrel type) in middle latitudes and direct cells (Hadley type) in low and, perhaps, high latitudes.

[学科分类] 大气科学