Available Potential Energy and the Maintenance of the General Circulation

摘要: The available potential energy of the atmosphere may be defined as difference between total and minimum which could result from any adiabatic redistribution mass. It vanishes if density stratification is horizontal statically stable everywhere, positive otherwise. measured approximately by a weighted vertical average variance temperature. In magnitude it generally about ten times kinetic energy, but less than one per cent energy. Under flow sum conserved, large increases in are usually accompanied therefore involve nonadiabatic effects. Available partitioned into zonal eddy an analysis temperature field. form converted eddy-transport sensible heat toward colder latitudes, while each corresponding general circulation characterized conversion generated low-latitude heating high-latitude cooling, to DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1955.tb01148.x