Effect of surface friction on the structure of barotropically unstable tropical disturbances
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Authors
Williams, R.T.
Schminke, T.K.
Newman, R.L.
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1971-10
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Abstract
The structure of barotropically unstable disturbances in the Tropics is studied with a two-level quasi-geostrophic
model. An Ekman layer is attached to the lower boundary. The equations are linearized and the most unstable mode
is found numerically by using the initial value technique. Computations are made for a shear-zone wind profile and a
jet profile; these fields are independent of height. The disturbance structure is found to be critically dependent on the
absolute vorticity gradient in the mean flow. The predicted disturbance structures contain a number of features that
are observed in tropical wave disturbances.
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This research was partially supported by the Navy Weather Research Facility. The numerical computations were performed by the W.R. Church Computer Center at the Naval Postgraduate School and by the University of Utah Computer Cener.
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Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 99, No. 10, pp. 778-785, October 1971.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.