  An extensive analysis of an optically-thin, dry atmosphere at different
values of the thermal Rossby number Ro and of the Taylor number Ff is per-
formed with a general circulation model by varying the rotation rate {\Omega}
and the surface drag {\tau} in a wide parametric range. By using nonequilibrium
thermodynamics diagnostics such as material entropy production, efficiency,
meridional heat transport and kinetic energy dissipation we characterize in a
new way the different circulation regimes. Baroclinic circulations feature high
mechanical dissipation, meridional heat transport, material entropy pro-
duction and are fairly efficient in converting heat into mechanical work. The
thermal dissipation associated with the sensible heat flux is found to depend
mainly on the surface properties, almost independent from the rotation rate and
very low for quasi-barotropic circulations and regimes approaching equa- torial
super-rotation. Slowly rotating, axisymmetric circulations have the highest
meridional heat transport. At high rotation rates and intermediate- high drag,
atmospheric circulations are zonostrohic with very low mechanical dissipation,
meridional heat transport and efficiency. When {\tau} is interpreted as a
tunable parameter associated with the turbulent boundary layer trans- fer of
momentum and sensible heat, our results confirm the possibility of using the
Maximum Entropy Production Principle as a tuning guideline in the range of
values of {\Omega}. This study suggests the effectiveness of using fun-
damental nonequilibrium thermodynamics for investigating the properties of
planetary atmospheres and extends our knowledge of the thermodynamics of the
atmospheric circulation regimes.
