A diagnostic study at 100 MB of the zonally-averaged fields of heat storage, heat transport and diabatic heating in the northern hemisphere during early April 1963

Abstract

The diabatic heating rate at 100mb is determined from the thermo­dynamic equation, utilizing previous calculations of the potential function x and the "vertical velocity" w, for the period 1-5 April 1963. The four basic terms of the expanded thermodynamic equation; storage, stream-velocity, x-potential advection, and vertical heat transport are examined individually, and added to obtain the diabatic heating rate which is compared to the results of previous investigations. The zonally-averaged heating rates are discussed in terms of stratosphere circulations and their associated physical mechanisms.