The flow of the atmosphere generally moves in a west to east direction. This, however, can often become interrupted, creating a more north to south or south to north flow. These scenarios are often described in meteorology as zonal or meridional. These terms, however, tend to be used about localized areas of the atmosphere (at a synoptic scale). A fuller explanation of the flow of atmosphere around the Earth as a whole can be found in the three-cell model.
Atmospheric flow
Troposphere
Troposphere | Atmospheric flow
The flow of the atmosphere generally moves in a west to east direction. It generally moves in a west to east direction. The flow of the atmosphere generally moves in a west to east direction. The flow of the atmosphere generally moves in a west to east direction.  This, however, can often become interrupted, creating a more north to south or south to north flow.
what are the alternating dark and light bands in jupiter’s atmosphere called
user
Lightly colored "zones" and relatively dark "belts."
assistant
what is the atmosphere like in jupiter?
user
It is mostly made of molecular hydrogen and helium in roughly solar proportions; other chemical compounds are present only in small amounts and include methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and water.
assistant
how can you describe its structure vertically?
user
The atmosphere of Jupiter is classified into four layers, by increasing altitude: the troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere and exosphere
assistant
what is the definition of the first mentioned layer?
user
The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere, and is also where nearly all weather conditions take place.
assistant
what is the flow here like?
user
The flow of the atmosphere generally moves in a west to east direction. This, however, can often become interrupted, creating a more north to south or south to north flow. These scenarios are often described in meteorology as zonal or meridional. These terms, however, tend to be used about localized areas of the atmosphere (at a synoptic scale). A fuller explanation of the flow of atmosphere around the Earth as a whole can be found in the three-cell model.
Troposphere | Atmospheric flow
When the zonal flow buckles, the atmosphere can flow in a more longitudinal (or meridional) direction, and thus the term "meridional flow" arises. Meridional flow patterns feature strong, amplified troughs of low pressure and ridges of high pressure, with more north–south flow in the general pattern than west-to-east flow.
Troposphere | Meridional flow
A zonal flow regime is the meteorological term meaning that the general flow pattern is west to east along the Earth's latitude lines, with weak shortwaves embedded in the flow. The use of the word "zone" refers to the flow being along the Earth's latitudinal "zones". This pattern can buckle and thus become a meridional flow.
Troposphere | Zonal flow
Thus, the lowest part of the troposphere (i.e. Earth's surface) is typically the warmest section of the troposphere. This promotes vertical mixing (hence, the origin of its name in the Greek word τρόπος, "tropos", meaning "turn"). The troposphere contains roughly 80% of the mass of Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere is denser than all its overlying atmospheric layers because a larger atmospheric weight sits on top of the troposphere and causes it to be most severely compressed. Fifty percent of the total mass of the atmosphere is located in the lower of the troposphere. Nearly all atmospheric water vapor or moisture is found in the troposphere, so it is the layer where most of Earth's weather takes place.
Atmosphere of Earth | Troposphere
The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere, and is also where nearly all weather conditions take place. It contains 75% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of the total mass of water vapour and aerosols. The average height of the troposphere is in the tropics, in the middle latitudes, and in the polar regions in winter. The total average height of the troposphere is . The lowest part of the troposphere, where friction with the Earth's surface influences airflow, is the planetary boundary layer. This layer is typically a few hundred meters to deep depending on the landform and time of day.
Troposphere | Introduction
As the secondary flow is drawn upward the air cools and its pressure falls, causing extremely heavy rainfall over several days.
Secondary flow | Tropical cyclones
Atop the troposphere is the tropopause, which is the border between the troposphere and stratosphere. The tropopause is an inversion layer, where the air temperature ceases to decrease with height and remains constant through its thickness. The word "troposphere" is derived from the Greek "tropos" (meaning "turn, turn toward, change") and "sphere" (as in the Earth), reflecting the fact that rotational turbulent mixing plays an important role in the troposphere's structure and behaviour. Most of the phenomena associated with day-to-day weather occur in the troposphere.
Troposphere | Introduction
The three-cell model of the atmosphere attempts to describe the actual flow of the Earth's atmosphere as a whole. It divides the Earth into the tropical (Hadley cell), mid-latitude (Ferrel cell), and polar (polar cell) regions, to describe energy flow and global atmospheric circulation (mass flow). Its fundamental principle is that of balance – the energy that the Earth absorbs from the sun each year is equal to that which it loses to space by radiation. This overall Earth energy balance, however, does not apply in each latitude due to the varying strength of the sun in each "cell" as a result of the tilt of the Earth's axis concerning its orbit.
Troposphere | Three-cell model
It has basically all the weather-associated cloud genus types generated by active wind circulation, although very tall cumulonimbus thunder clouds can penetrate the tropopause from below and rise into the lower part of the stratosphere. Most conventional aviation activity takes place in the troposphere, and it is the only layer that can be accessed by propeller-driven aircraft.
Atmosphere of Earth | Troposphere
The lowest part of the troposphere is called the "atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)" or the "planetary boundary layer (PBL)" . The air temperature of the atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude until it reaches what is called an "inversion layer" (where the temperature increases with increasing altitude) that caps the Convective Boundary Layer, typically to about 1.5 to 2.0 km in height. The upper part of the troposphere (i.e., above the inversion layer) is called the "free troposphere" and it extends up to the tropopause (the boundary in the Earth's atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere). In tropical and mid-latitudes during daytime, the Free convective layer can comprise the entire troposphere, which is up to 10 km to 18 km in the Intertropical convergence zone.
Atmospheric dispersion modeling | Atmospheric layers
Inflow is the flow of a fluid into a large collection of that fluid. Within meteorology, inflow normally refers to the influx of warmth and moisture from air within the Earth's atmosphere into storm systems. Extratropical cyclones are fed by inflow focused along their cold front and warm fronts. Tropical cyclones require a large inflow of warmth and moisture from warm oceans in order to develop significantly, mainly within the lowest of the atmosphere. Once the flow of warm and moist air is cut off from thunderstorms and their associated tornadoes, normally by the thunderstorm's own rain-cooled outflow boundary, the storms begin to dissipate.
Inflow (meteorology) | Introduction
Even though the wind speed near the center of a tropical cyclone is very fast, at any point on the Earth's surface it is not as fast as it is above that point away from the retarding influence of the Earth's surface. The slower speed of the air at the earth's surface prevents the barometric pressure from falling as low as would be expected from the barometric pressure at mid altitudes. This is compatible with Bernoulli's principle. The secondary flow at the Earth's surface is toward the center of the cyclone but is then drawn upward by the significantly lower pressure at mid and high altitudes.
Secondary flow | Tropical cyclones
The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from Earth's surface to an average height of about , although this altitude varies from about at the geographic poles to at the Equator, with some variation due to weather. The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary marked in most places by a temperature inversion (i.e. a layer of relatively warm air above a colder one), and in others by a zone which is isothermal with height. Although variations do occur, the temperature usually declines with increasing altitude in the troposphere because the troposphere is mostly heated through energy transfer from the surface.
Atmosphere of Earth | Troposphere
In the case of upstream air pressure at atmospheric pressure and vacuum conditions downstream of an orifice, both the air velocity and the mass flow rate becomes choked or limited when sonic velocity is reached through the orifice.
Choked flow | Vacuum conditions
The group included Carl-Gustaf Rossby (who was the first to explain the large scale atmospheric flow in terms of fluid dynamics), Tor Bergeron (who first determined how rain forms) and Jacob Bjerknes.
Meteorology | Research into cyclones and air flow
Temperatures in the atmosphere decrease with height at an average rate of 6.5°C/km. Because the troposphere experiences its warmest temperatures closer to Earth's surface, there is great vertical movement of heat and water vapour, causing turbulence. This turbulence, in conjunction with the presence of water vapour, is the reason that weather occurs within the troposphere. Following the tropopause is the stratosphere. This layer extends from the tropopause to the stratopause which is located at an altitude of about 50 km (31 mi). Temperatures remain constant with height from the tropopause to an altitude of 20 km (12.5 mi), after which they start to increase with height.
Atmospheric temperature | Temperature versus altitude
This slow, widespread ascent of the air in a region of low pressure can cause widespread cloud and rain if the air is of sufficiently high relative humidity.
Secondary flow | Wind near ground level
Although the temperature may be at the tropopause, the top of the stratosphere is much warmer, and may be near 0 °C. The stratospheric temperature profile creates very stable atmospheric conditions, so the stratosphere lacks the weather-producing air turbulence that is so prevalent in the troposphere. Consequently, the stratosphere is almost completely free of clouds and other forms of weather. However, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds are occasionally seen in the lower part of this layer of the atmosphere where the air is coldest. The stratosphere is the highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft.
Atmosphere of Earth | Stratosphere
Despite this, much of the atmosphere outside the tropics is close to geostrophic flow much of the time and it is a valuable first approximation. Geostrophic flow in air or water is a zero-frequency inertial wave.
Geostrophic wind | Introduction
By volume, dry air contains 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor. Except for the water vapor content, the composition of the troposphere is essentially uniform. The source of water vapor is at the Earth's surface through the process of evaporation. The temperature of the troposphere decreases with altitude. And, saturation vapor pressure decreases strongly as temperature drops. Hence, the amount of water vapor that can exist in the atmosphere decreases strongly with altitude and the proportion of water vapor is normally greatest near the surface of the Earth.
Troposphere | Composition
Higher than the troposphere, at the tropopause, the temperature is approximately constant with altitude (up to ~20 km) and is 220 K. This means that at this layer L = 0 and T= 220K, so that the exponential drop is faster, with H = 6.3 km for air (6.5 for nitrogen, 5.7 for oxygen and 4.2 for carbon dioxide). Both the pressure and density obey this law, so, denoting the height of the border between the troposphere and the tropopause as U:
Density of air | Tropopause
Earth's atmosphere has no definite boundary, slowly becoming thinner and fading into outer space. Three-quarters of the atmosphere's mass is contained within the first of the surface. This lowest layer is called the troposphere. Energy from the Sun heats this layer, and the surface below, causing expansion of the air. This lower-density air then rises and is replaced by cooler, higher-density air. The result is atmospheric circulation that drives the weather and climate through redistribution of thermal energy. The primary atmospheric circulation bands consist of the trade winds in the equatorial region below 30° latitude and the westerlies in the mid-latitudes between 30° and 60°.
Earth | Weather and climate
There is a pressure gradient toward the center of the vortex. This gradient, coupled with the slower speed of the air near the earth's surface, causes a "secondary flow" toward the center of the tornado or dust devil, rather than in a purely circular pattern. The slower speed of the air at the surface prevents the air pressure from falling as low as would normally be expected from the air pressure at greater heights. This is compatible with Bernoulli's principle. The secondary flow is toward the center of the tornado or dust devil, and is then drawn upward by the significantly lower pressure several thousands of feet above the surface in the case of a tornado, or several hundred feet in the case of a dust devil.
Secondary flow | Tornadoes and dust devils
"Atmospheric circulation" is the large-scale movement of air through the troposphere, and the means (with ocean circulation) by which heat is distributed around Earth. The large-scale structure of the atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the basic structure remains fairly constant because it is determined by Earth's rotation rate and the difference in solar radiation between the equator and poles.
Atmosphere of Earth | Circulation
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere; it is located right above the planetary boundary layer, and is the layer in which most weather phenomena take place. The troposphere contains the boundary layer, and ranges in height from an average of at the poles, to at the Equator. In the absence of inversions and not considering moisture, the temperature lapse rate for this layer is 6.5 °C per kilometer, on average, according to the "U.S. Standard Atmosphere". A measurement of both the tropospheric and the stratospheric lapse rates helps identifying the location of the tropopause, since temperature increases with height in the stratosphere, and hence the lapse rate becomes negative.
Tropopause | Location
In general, winds are strongest immediately under the tropopause (except locally, during tornadoes, tropical cyclones or other anomalous situations). If two air masses of different temperatures or densities meet, the resulting pressure difference caused by the density difference (which ultimately causes wind) is highest within the transition zone. The wind does not flow directly from the hot to the cold area, but is deflected by the Coriolis effect and flows along the boundary of the two air masses. All these facts are consequences of the thermal wind relation. The balance of forces acting on an atmospheric air parcel in the vertical direction is primarily between the gravitational force acting on the mass of the parcel and the buoyancy force, or the difference in pressure between the top and bottom surfaces of the parcel.
Jet stream | Cause
For instance, the thermal wind associated with pole-to-equator temperature gradients is the primary physical explanation for the jet stream in the upper half of the troposphere, which is the atmospheric layer extending from the surface of the planet up to altitudes of about 12-15 km. Mathematically, the thermal wind relation defines a vertical wind shear – a variation in wind speed or direction with height. The wind shear in this case is a function of a horizontal temperature gradient, which is a variation in temperature over some horizontal distance. Also called baroclinic flow, the thermal wind varies with height in proportion to the horizontal temperature gradient.
Thermal wind | Introduction
Inflow can originate from mid-levels of the atmosphere too. When thunderstorms are able to organize into squall lines, a feature known as a rear inflow jet develops to the south of the mid-level circulation associated with its northern bookend vortex. This leads to an erosion of rain within the broad rain shield behind the squall line, and may lead to acceleration of the squall line itself.
Inflow (meteorology) | Thunderstorms
Tornadoes and dust devils display localised vortex flow. Their fluid motion is similar to tropical cyclones but on a much smaller scale so that the Coriolis effect is not significant. The primary flow is circular around the vertical axis of the tornado or dust devil. As with all vortex flow, the speed of the flow is fastest at the core of the vortex. In accordance with Bernoulli's principle where the wind speed is fastest the air pressure is lowest; and where the wind speed is slowest the air pressure is highest. Consequently, near the center of the tornado or dust devil the air pressure is low.
Secondary flow | Tornadoes and dust devils
The flow in many fluids varies with density and depends upon the gravity. Due to which the fluid with lower density is always above the fluid with higher density. Stratified flows are very common such as the Earth's ocean and its atmosphere.
Stratified flows | Introduction
Discussion of the layers in the Earth's atmosphere is needed to understand where airborne pollutants disperse in the atmosphere. The layer closest to the Earth's surface is known as the "troposphere". It extends from sea-level to a height of about 18 km and contains about 80 percent of the mass of the overall atmosphere. The "stratosphere" is the next layer and extends from 18 km to about 50 km. The third layer is the "mesosphere" which extends from 50 km to about 80 km. There are other layers above 80 km, but they are insignificant with respect to atmospheric dispersion modeling.
Atmospheric dispersion modeling | Atmospheric layers
A January 2019 article in Geophysical Research Letters described them as "long, meandering plumes of water vapor often originating over the tropical oceans that bring sustained, heavy precipitation to the west coasts of North America and northern Europe" that cause rainfall throughout the winter months."
Atmospheric river | Description
High-pressure systems form due to downward motion through the troposphere, the atmospheric layer where weather occurs. Preferred areas within a synoptic flow pattern in higher levels of the troposphere are beneath the western side of troughs. On weather maps, these areas show converging winds (isotachs), also known as confluence, or converging height lines near or above the level of non-divergence, which is near the 500 hPa pressure surface about midway up through the troposphere. On weather maps, high-pressure centers are associated with the letter H placed within the isobar with the highest pressure value. On constant pressure upper level charts, it is located within the highest height line contour.
Anticyclogenesis | Process
In meteorological term regarding atmospheric circulation, zonal flow brings a temperature contrast along the Earth's longitude. Extratropical cyclones in zonal flows tend to be weaker, moving faster and producing relatively little impact on local weather. Extratropical cyclones in meridional flows tend to be stronger and move slower. This pattern is responsible for most instances of extreme weather, as not only are storms stronger in this type of flow regime, but temperatures can reach extremes as well, producing heat waves and cold waves depending on the equator-ward or poleward direction of the flow.
Zonal and meridional flow | Introduction
The assumption here is for vegetation with an abundant water supply (i.e. the plants have low moisture stress). Areas like arid regions with high moisture stress are estimated to have higher formula_10 values. The assumption that an air mass moving over a vegetated surface with abundant water saturates has been questioned later. The lowest and turbulent part of the atmosphere, the atmospheric boundary layer, is not a closed box, but constantly brings in dry air from higher up in the atmosphere towards the surface. As water evaporates more easily into a dry atmosphere, evapotranspiration is enhanced. This explains the larger than unity value of the Priestley-Taylor parameter formula_10.
Penman–Monteith equation | Priestley–Taylor
Temperature varies greatly at different heights relative to the Earth's surface and this variation in temperature characterizes the four layers that exist in the atmosphere. These layers include: the Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, and Thermosphere. The troposphere is the lowest of the four layers, extending from the surface of the Earth to about 11 km (7 mi) into the atmosphere where the tropopause (the boundary between the troposphere stratosphere) is located. The width of the troposphere can vary depending on latitude, for example, the troposphere is thicker in the tropics (about 16 km or 10 mi) because the tropics are generally warmer, and thinner at the poles (about 8 km or 5 mi) because the poles are colder.
Atmospheric temperature | Temperature versus altitude
Outflow, in meteorology, is air that flows outwards from a storm system. It is associated with ridging, or anticyclonic flow. In the low levels of the troposphere, outflow radiates from thunderstorms in the form of a wedge of rain-cooled air, which is visible as a thin rope-like cloud on weather satellite imagery or a fine line on weather radar imagery. For observers on the ground, a thunderstorm outflow boundary often approaches in otherwise clear skies as a low, thick cloud that brings with it a gust front. Low-level outflow boundaries can disrupt the center of small tropical cyclones. However, outflow aloft is essential for the strengthening of a tropical cyclone.
Outflow (meteorology) | Introduction
The stratosphere () is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is stratified (layered) in temperature, with warmer layers higher and cooler layers closer to the Earth; this increase of temperature with altitude is a result of the absorption of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation (shortened UV) by the ozone layer. This is in contrast to the troposphere, near the Earth's surface, where temperature decreases with altitude. The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, the tropopause, marks where this temperature inversion begins. Near the equator, the lower edge of the stratosphere is as high as , at midlatitudes around , and at the poles about Temperatures range from an average of near the tropopause to an average of near the mesosphere.
Stratosphere | Introduction
This flow of air across the isobars near ground level is a "secondary flow". It does not conform to the primary flow, which is parallel to the isobars. At heights well above ground level there is a balance between the Coriolis effect, the local pressure gradient, and the velocity of the wind. This is balanced flow. Closer to the ground the air is not able to accelerate to the speed necessary for balanced flow. Interference by the surface of the ground or water, and by obstructions such as terrain, waves, trees and buildings, cause drag on the atmosphere and prevent the air from accelerating to the speed necessary to achieve balanced flow.
Secondary flow | Wind near ground level
Going upward from the surface, it is the point where air ceases to cool with height, and becomes almost completely dry. More formally, the tropopause is the region of the atmosphere where the environmental lapse rate changes from positive, as it behaves in the troposphere, to the stratospheric negative one. Following is the exact definition used by the World Meteorological Organization: The tropopause as defined above renders as a first-order discontinuity surface, that is, "temperature" as a function of height varies continuously through the atmosphere but the "temperature gradient" does not.
Tropopause | Definition
The tropopause location coincides with the lowest point at which the lapse rate falls below a prescribed threshold. Since the tropopause responds to the average temperature of the entire layer that lies underneath it, it is at its peak levels over the Equator, and reaches minimum heights over the poles. On account of this, the coolest layer in the atmosphere lies at about 17 km over the equator. Due to the variation in starting height, the tropopause extremes are referred to as the equatorial tropopause and the polar tropopause. Given that the lapse rate is not a conservative quantity when the tropopause is considered for stratosphere-troposphere exchanges studies, there exists an alternative definition named "dynamic tropopause".
Tropopause | Location
HydroGeoSphere assumes that the subsurface flow equation in a porous medium is always solved during a simulation, either for fully saturated or variably saturated flow conditions. The subsurface flow equation can be expanded to incorporate discrete fractures, a second interacting porous continuum, wells, tile drains and surface flow. The following assumptions are made for subsurface flow: The Richards’ equation is used to describe three-dimensional transient subsurface flow in a variably saturated porous medium: The fluid flux, formula_2, is represented by the Darcy's law shown as:
HydroGeoSphere | Groundwater Flow
The Ferrel cell is weak, because it has neither a strong source of heat nor a strong sink, so the airflow and temperatures within it are variable. For this reason, the mid-latitudes are sometimes known as the "zone of mixing." The Hadley and polar cells are truly closed loops, the Ferrel cell is not, and the telling point is in the Westerlies, which are more formally known as "the Prevailing Westerlies." The easterly Trade Winds and the polar easterlies have nothing over which to prevail, as their parent circulation cells are strong enough and face few obstacles either in the form of massive terrain features or high pressure zones.
Atmospheric circulation | Ferrel cell
The atmospheric circulation pattern that George Hadley described was an attempt to explain the trade winds. The Hadley cell is a closed circulation loop which begins at the equator. There, moist air is warmed by the Earth's surface, decreases in density and rises. A similar air mass rising on the other side of the equator forces those rising air masses to move poleward. The rising air creates a low pressure zone near the equator. As the air moves poleward, it cools, becomes denser, and descends at about the 30th parallel, creating a high-pressure area. The descended air then travels toward the equator along the surface, replacing the air that rose from the equatorial zone, closing the loop of the Hadley cell.
Atmospheric circulation | Hadley cell
As a result, the wind direction near ground level is partly parallel to the isobars in the region, and partly across the isobars in the direction from higher pressure to lower pressure. As a result of the slower wind speed at the earth's surface, in a region of low pressure the barometric pressure is usually significantly higher at the surface than would be expected, given the barometric pressure at mid altitudes, due to Bernoulli's principle. Hence, the secondary flow toward the center of a region of low pressure is also drawn upward by the significantly lower pressure at mid altitudes.
Secondary flow | Wind near ground level
The tropopause is the boundary in the Earth's atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere. It is a thermodynamic gradient stratification layer, marking the end of the troposphere. It lies, on average, at above equatorial regions, and about over the polar regions.
Tropopause | Introduction
On the other hand, some of the large outflow channels begin in rubble-filled low areas, called chaos or chaotic terrain. It has been suggested that massive amounts of water were trapped under pressure beneath a thick cryosphere (layer of frozen ground), then the water was suddenly released, perhaps when the cryosphere was broken by a fault.
Vallis (planetary geology) | Introduction
Wind patterns push air across the surface mixing it horizontally. At higher altitudes, other atmospheric circulation regimes exist, such as the Brewer-Dobson circulation in the terrestrial stratosphere, which mixes the air. In Earth's mesophere, atmospheric waves become unstable and dissipate, creating turbulent mixing of this region.
Homosphere | Introduction
An atmospheric river (AR) is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere. Other names for this phenomenon are tropical plume, tropical connection, moisture plume, water vapor surge, and cloud band. Atmospheric rivers consist of narrow bands of enhanced water vapor transport, typically along the boundaries between large areas of divergent surface air flow, including some frontal zones in association with extratropical cyclones that form over the oceans. Pineapple Express storms are the most commonly represented and recognized type of atmospheric rivers; they are given the name due to the warm water vapor plumes originating over the Hawaiian tropics that follow various paths towards western North America, arriving at latitudes from California and the Pacific Northwest to British Columbia and even southeast Alaska.
Atmospheric river | Introduction
The primary flow around a tropical cyclone is parallel to the isobars – and hence circular. The closer to the center of the cyclone, the faster is the wind speed. In accordance with Bernoulli's principle where the wind speed is fastest the barometric pressure is lowest. Consequently, near the center of the cyclone the barometric pressure is very low. There is a strong pressure gradient across the isobars toward the center of the cyclone. This pressure gradient provides the centripetal force necessary for the circular motion of each parcel of air. This strong gradient, coupled with the slower speed of the air near the Earth's surface, causes a secondary flow at surface level toward the center of the cyclone, rather than a wholly circular flow.
Secondary flow | Tropical cyclones
The equations were said to apply to parcels of air moving on horizontal planes. Indeed, when one considers a column of atmosphere, it is seldom the case that the air density is the same all the height up, since temperature and moisture content, hence density, do change with height. Every parcel within such a column moves according to the air properties at its own height. Homogeneous sheets of air may slide one over the other, so long as stable stratification of lighter air on top of heavier air leads to well-separated layers. If some air happens to be heavier/lighter than that in the surroundings, though, vertical motions do occur and modify the horizontal motion in turn.
Balanced flow | Vertical differences of air properties
Most of tropospheric gases are treated as ideal gases and water vapor, with its ability to change phase from vapor, to liquid, to solid, and back is considered as one of the most important trace components of air. Advanced topics are phase transitions of water, homogeneous and in-homogeneous nucleation, effect of dissolved substances on cloud condensation, role of supersaturation on formation of ice crystals and cloud droplets. Considerations of moist air and cloud theories typically involve various temperatures, such as equivalent potential temperature, wet-bulb and virtual temperatures. Connected areas are energy, momentum, and mass transfer, turbulence interaction between air particles in clouds, convection, dynamics of tropical cyclones, and large scale dynamics of the atmosphere.
Atmospheric thermodynamics | Overview
Low-level outflow boundaries from thunderstorms are cooler and more moist than the air mass the thunderstorm originally formed within due to its wet bulbing by rain, forming a wedge of denser air which spreads out from the base of the parent thunderstorm. If wind speeds are high enough, such as during microburst events, dust and sand can be carried into the troposphere, reducing visibility. This type of weather event is known as a haboob, and is most common in the late spring within Sudan. Upper-level outflow can consist of thick cirrus clouds which would then obscure the sun and reduce solar insolation around the outermost edge of tropical cyclones.
Outflow (meteorology) | Local effects
Because the temperature in the tropopause and lower stratosphere is largely constant with increasing altitude, very little convection and its resultant turbulence occurs there. Most turbulence at this altitude is caused by variations in the jet stream and other local wind shears, although areas of significant convective activity (thunderstorms) in the troposphere below may produce turbulence as a result of convective overshoot.
Stratosphere | Aircraft flight
Most of them are detectable in the low tropospheric temperature field as cold troughs in the easterlies. They tend to vertically tilt toward the northeast. Cumulonimbus clouds and rainfall occur in the southeast quadrant, approximately 5° latitude (or ) from the upper cyclone center. Large variations of cloud cover can exist in different systems. The summer tropical upper tropospheric trough is a dominant feature over the trade wind regions of the North Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea, and that the lower tropospheric responses to the tropical upper tropospheric trough in the North Atlantic are differ from those in the North Pacific.
Upper tropospheric cyclonic vortex | Climatology
Convective processes of the troposphere affect the transport of water vapour-a green house gas, and its circulation in both the stratosphere and mesosphere. By analysing the processes that occur in these layers, can improve atmospheric models, and provide a better understanding of Earth's climate and weather. The experiment also studies how much water the cloud turrets can carry into the stratosphere, and how lightning influences their formation. Thor analyses red sprites, blue and gigantic jets from the Space Station over Earth at night. Sprites appear as luminous reddish-orange flashes and last 20 milliseconds at most. They often occur in clusters within atmosphere above the troposphere at an altitude range of 50–90 km (31–56 mi).
Thor experiment | Details
A second factor which contributes to a concentrated jet is more applicable to the subtropical jet which forms at the poleward limit of the tropical Hadley cell, and to first order this circulation is symmetric with respect to longitude. Tropical air rises to the tropopause, and moves poleward before sinking; this is the Hadley cell circulation. As it does so it tends to conserve angular momentum, since friction with the ground is slight. Air masses that begin moving poleward are deflected eastward by the Coriolis force (true for either hemisphere), which for poleward moving air implies an increased westerly component of the winds (note that deflection is leftward in the southern hemisphere).
Jet stream | Subtropical jet
A recirculating air flow path resulted from the warm (less-dense) air rising in a south-side solarium, and cooler (denser) air falling on the north side to create pressure differentials that automatically moved excess solar thermal gain from the south to the north side of the building without forced convection systems. Air flow was proportional to the differences in temperature between the two convection paths.
Double envelope house | Design and theory
The result is a circulation of the atmosphere that transports warm air poleward from the tropics and cold air equatorward from the poles. The effect of the three cells is the tendency to even out the heat and moisture in the Earth's atmosphere around the planet.
Troposphere | Three-cell model
The circulation in Venus's troposphere follows the so-called cyclostrophic flow. Its windspeeds are roughly determined by the balance of the pressure gradient and centrifugal forces in almost purely zonal flow. In contrast, the circulation in the Earth's atmosphere is governed by the geostrophic balance. Venus's windspeeds can be directly measured only in the upper troposphere (tropopause), between 60–70 km, altitude, which corresponds to the upper cloud deck. The cloud motion is usually observed in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, where the contrast between clouds is the highest. The linear wind speeds at this level are about 100 ± 10 m/s at lower than 50° latitude.
Atmosphere of Venus | Circulation
The Equatorial jet stream is unusual in that it sometimes flows from east to west at about 10° N, approximately the same latitude as Kerala (8° N) and Mayon Volcano (13° N). This hypothesis was also ruled out as the particles were neither acidic nor of volcanic origin, but were spores.
Red rain in Kerala | Alternative hypotheses
An earthflow (earth flow) is a downslope viscous flow of fine-grained materials that have been saturated with water and moves under the pull of gravity. It is an intermediate type of mass wasting that is between downhill creep and mudflow. The types of materials that are susceptible to earthflows are clay, fine sand and silt, and fine-grained pyroclastic material. When the ground materials become saturated with enough water, they will start flowing (soil liquefaction). Its speed can range from being barely noticeable to rapid movement. The velocity of the flow is dictated by water content: the higher the water content is, the higher the velocity will be.
Earthflow | Introduction
Precipitation The primary meteorological characteristics of a rainfall event that influence stemflow are: Species
Stemflow | Determining factors
The surface conductances, formula_23 and formula_24 are approximated by either the Manning or Chezy equation.
HydroGeoSphere | Surface water flow
Rear inflow jets behind squall lines act to erode the broad rain shield behind the squall line, and accelerate its forward motion.
Inflow (meteorology) | Introduction
Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air, and is a means by which thermal energy is distributed on the surface of the Earth, together with the much slower (lagged) ocean circulation system. The large-scale structure of the atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the basic climatological structure remains fairly constant. Latitudinal circulation occurs because incident solar radiation per unit area is highest at the heat equator, and decreases as the latitude increases, reaching minima at the poles. It consists of two primary convection cells, the Hadley cell and the polar vortex, with the Hadley cell experiencing stronger convection due to the release of latent heat energy by condensation of water vapor at higher altitudes during cloud formation.
Convection | Atmospheric circulation
Within an unstable layer in the troposphere, the lifting of air parcels will occur, and continue for as long as the nearby atmosphere remains unstable. Once overturning through the depth of the troposphere occurs (with convection being capped by the relatively warmer, more stable layer of the stratosphere), deep convective currents lead to thunderstorm development when enough moisture is present. Over warm ocean waters and within a region of the troposphere with light vertical wind shear and significant low level spin (or vorticity), such thunderstorm activity can grow in coverage and develop into a tropical cyclone. Over hot surfaces during warm days, unstable dry air can lead to significant refraction of the light within the air layer, which causes inferior mirages.
Atmospheric instability | Unstable atmosphere
In a moist atmosphere, this lapse rate is 6.5 °C/km, while in an atmosphere with less than 100% relative humidity, the required lapse rate is 9.8 °C/km. At the 500 hPa level, the air temperature averages −7 °C (18 °F) within the tropics, but air in the tropics is normally dry at this level, giving the air room to wet-bulb, or cool as it moistens, to a more favorable temperature that can then support convection. A wetbulb temperature at 500 hPa in a tropical atmosphere of −13.2 °C is required to initiate convection if the water temperature is 26.5 °C, and this temperature requirement increases or decreases proportionally by 1 °C in the sea surface temperature for each 1 °C change at 500 hpa.
Tropical cyclogenesis | Warm waters, instability, and mid-level moisture
The boundary layer spirals inward toward the axis of circulation of the water. On reaching the center the secondary flow is then upward toward the surface, progressively mixing with the primary flow. Near the surface there may also be a slow secondary flow outward toward the perimeter. The secondary flow along the floor of the bowl or cup can be seen by sprinkling heavy particles such as sugar, sand, rice or tea leaves into the water and then setting the water in circular motion by stirring with a hand or spoon. The boundary layer spirals inward and sweeps the heavier solids into a neat pile in the center of the bowl or cup.
Secondary flow | Circular flow in a bowl or cup
Airflow, or air flow, is the movement of air. The primary cause of airflow is the existence of air. Air behaves in a wave like manner, meaning particles naturally flow from areas of higher pressure to those where the pressure is lower. Atmospheric difference|Atmospheric air pressure]] is directly related to altitude, temperature, and composition. In engineering, airflow is a measurement of the amount of air per unit of time that flows through a particular device. The flow of air can be induced through mechanical means (such as by operating an electric or manual fan) or can take place passively, as a function of pressure differentials present in the environment.
Airflow | Introduction
This outflow produces high, thin cirrus clouds that spiral away from the center. The clouds are thin enough for the sun to be visible through them. These high cirrus clouds may be the first signs of an approaching tropical cyclone. As air parcels are lifted within the eye of the storm the vorticity is reduced, causing the outflow from a tropical cyclone to have anticyclonic motion. If two tropical cyclones are in proximity to one another, the outflow from the system downstream (normally to the west) can hinder the development of the system upstream (normally to the east).
Outflow (meteorology) | Tropical cyclones
The stratosphere is a region of intense interactions among radiative, dynamical, and chemical processes, in which the horizontal mixing of gaseous components proceeds much more rapidly than does vertical mixing. The overall circulation of the stratosphere is termed as Brewer-Dobson circulation, which is a single celled circulation, spanning from the tropics up to the poles, consisting of the tropical upwelling of air from the tropical troposphere and the extra-tropical downwelling of air. Stratospheric circulation is a predominantly wave-driven circulation in that the tropical upwelling is induced by the wave force by the westward propagating Rossby waves, in a phenomenon called Rossby-wave pumping.
Stratosphere | Circulation and mixing
The highest recorded flow rate during this period was , while the lowest recorded flow rate was .
Jølstra | Introduction
in still conditions, its natural tendency would be to sink), but the flow has sufficient initial momentum to carry it some distance vertically, are described as being negatively buoyant.
Plume (fluid dynamics) | Introduction
In general, air pressure and density decrease with altitude in the atmosphere. However, temperature has a more complicated profile with altitude, and may remain relatively constant or even increase with altitude in some regions (see the temperature section, below). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile, or lapse rate, is constant and measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings, the temperature behavior provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. In this way, Earth's atmosphere can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers. Excluding the exosphere, the atmosphere has four primary layers, which are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere.
Atmosphere of Earth | Stratification
The flow in these regions is the secondary flow. These regions are usually in the vicinity of the boundary of the fluid adjacent to solid surfaces where viscous forces are at work, such as in the boundary layer. In engineering secondary flow also identifies an additional flow path.
Secondary flow | Introduction
The temperature of the troposphere generally decreases as altitude increases. The rate at which the temperature decreases, formula_2, is called the environmental lapse rate (ELR). The ELR is nothing more than the difference in temperature between the surface and the tropopause divided by the height. The ELR assumes that the air is perfectly still, i.e. that there is no mixing of the layers of air from vertical convection, nor winds that would create turbulence and hence mixing of the layers of air. The reason for this temperature difference is that the ground absorbs most of the sun's energy, which then heats the lower levels of the atmosphere with which it is in contact.
Troposphere | Temperature
Within the five principal layers above, that are largely determined by temperature, several secondary layers may be distinguished by other properties: The average temperature of the atmosphere at Earth's surface is or , depending on the reference.
Atmosphere of Earth | Other layers
The troposphere is a dynamic part of the atmosphere, exhibiting strong winds, bright clouds and seasonal changes.
Uranus | Troposphere
With all this solar radiation, the air around the tropics begins to warm up. Because hot air is less dense than cold air, the hot air rises into the upper levels of the atmosphere and as a result, cold air filters down into the lower levels of the atmosphere. The dynamics that provide the tropics with the rain belt are founded on the principle that warmer air is able to retain more moisture than colder air.
Tropical rain belt | Introduction
Easterly winds, on average, dominate the flow pattern across the poles, westerly winds blow across the mid-latitudes of the earth, polewards of the subtropical ridge, while easterlies again dominate the tropics. Directly under the subtropical ridge are the doldrums, or horse latitudes, where winds are lighter. Many of the Earth's deserts lie near the average latitude of the subtropical ridge, where descent reduces the relative humidity of the air mass. The strongest winds are in the mid-latitudes where cold polar air meets warm air from the tropics.
Wind | Global climatology
High-pressure areas form due to downward motion through the troposphere, the atmospheric layer where weather occurs. Preferred areas within a synoptic flow pattern in higher levels of the troposphere are beneath the western side of troughs. On weather maps, these areas show converging winds (isotachs), also known as convergence, near or above the level of non-divergence, which is near the 500 hPa pressure surface about midway up through the troposphere, and about half the atmospheric pressure at the surface. High-pressure systems are alternatively referred to as anticyclones. On English-language weather maps, high-pressure centers are identified by the letter H in English, within the isobar with the highest pressure value.
High-pressure area | Formation
The intermediate layers of the troposphere are the regions with less influence of human activity. This region is far enough from the surface for not being affected by the surface emissions. Additionally, commercial and military flights only cross this region during ascending or descending maneuvers. Moreover, in this region there exist two types of clouds with a large horizontal extension: "Nimbostratus" and "Altostratus", which cannot originate from human activity. Consequently, it is assumed that there are no anthropic clouds of these two "genera". However, what can occur is enhancing existing "Nimbostratus" or "Altostratus" due to the additional water vapor or condensation nuclei emitted by a thermal power plant, for instance.
Anthropogenic cloud | Middle homogenitus
Density stratification has significant effect on diffusion in fluids. For example, smoke which is coming from a chimney diffuses turbulently if the earth atmosphere is not stably stratified. When the lower air is in stable condition, as in morning or early evening, the smoke comes out and become flat into a long, thin layer. Strong stratification, or inversions as they are called sometimes, restrict contaminants to the lower regions of the earth atmosphere, and cause many of our current air-pollution problems.
Stratified flows | Effects of stratification on diffusion
The Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a global scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the Equator, flowing poleward at a height of 10 to 15 kilometers above the earth's surface, descending in the subtropics, and then returning equatorward near the surface. This circulation creates the trade winds, tropical rain-belts and hurricanes, subtropical deserts and the jet streams. Hadley cells are the low-altitude overtuning circulation that have air sinking at roughly zero to 30 degree latitude.
Hadley cell | Introduction
Associated with a thermal is a downward flow surrounding the thermal column. The downward moving exterior is caused by colder air being displaced at the top of the thermal. Another convection-driven weather effect is the sea breeze.
Atmospheric convection | Initiation
Note that many texts use mixing ratio r in place of specific humidity q because these values tend to be close (within a few percent) under normal atmospheric conditions, but this is an approximation and not strictly correct. Through the study of moist static energy profiles, Herbert Riehl and Joanne Malkus determined in 1958 that hot towers, small cores of convection approximately wide that extend from the planetary boundary layer to the tropopause, were the primary mechanism that transported energy out of the tropics to the middle latitudes. More recently, idealized model simulations of the tropics indicate that the moist static energy budget is dominated by advection, with shallow inflow in the lowest of the atmosphere with outflow concentrated about above the surface.
Moist static energy | Introduction
The stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It lies above the troposphere and is separated from it by the tropopause. This layer extends from the top of the troposphere at roughly above Earth's surface to the stratopause at an altitude of about . The atmospheric pressure at the top of the stratosphere is roughly 1/1000 the pressure at sea level. It contains the ozone layer, which is the part of Earth's atmosphere that contains relatively high concentrations of that gas. The stratosphere defines a layer in which temperatures rise with increasing altitude. This rise in temperature is caused by the absorption of ultraviolet radiation (UV) radiation from the Sun by the ozone layer, which restricts turbulence and mixing.
Atmosphere of Earth | Stratosphere
The poleward movement of the air in the upper part of the troposphere deviates toward the east, caused by the coriolis acceleration (a manifestation of conservation of angular momentum). At the ground level, however, the movement of the air toward the equator in the lower troposphere deviates toward the west, producing a wind from the east. The winds that flow to the west (from the east, easterly wind) at the ground level in the Hadley cell are called the Trade Winds. Though the Hadley cell is described as located at the equator, in the northern hemisphere it shifts to higher latitudes in June and July and toward lower latitudes in December and January, which is the result of the Sun's heating of the surface.
Atmospheric circulation | Hadley cell
Jet streak dynamics through the imbalance of Coriolis and pressure gradient forces, causing subgeostrophic and supergeostrophic flows, can also create upward vertical velocities. There are numerous other atmospheric setups in which upward vertical velocities can be created.
Atmospheric convection | Boundaries and forcing
Such double eyed structures are also called polar dipoles. Vortices rotate with the period of about 3 days in the direction of general super-rotation of the atmosphere. The linear wind speeds are 35–50 m/s near their outer edges and zero at the poles. The temperature at the cloud-tops in each polar vortex is much higher than in the nearby polar collars, reaching 250 K (−23 °C). The conventional interpretation of the polar vortices is that they are anticyclones with downwelling in the centre and upwelling in the cold polar collars. This type of circulation resembles a winter polar anticyclonic vortex on Earth, especially the one found over Antarctica.
Atmosphere of Venus | Circulation
Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth. The Earth's atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the large-scale structure of its circulation remains fairly constant. The smaller scale weather systems – mid-latitude depressions, or tropical convective cells – occur "randomly", and long-range weather predictions of those cannot be made beyond ten days in practice, or a month in theory (see Chaos theory and the Butterfly effect). The Earth's weather is a consequence of its illumination by the Sun, and the laws of thermodynamics.
Atmospheric circulation | Introduction
Such an interpretation is supported by the denser and higher clouds in the collars. The clouds lie at 70–72 km altitude in the collars—about 5 km higher than at the poles and low latitudes. A connection may exist between the cold collars and high-speed midlatitude jets in which winds blow as fast as 140 m/s. Such jets are a natural consequence of the Hadley-type circulation and should exist on Venus between 55–60° latitude. Odd structures known as polar vortices lie within the cold polar collars. They are giant hurricane-like storms four times larger than their terrestrial analogs. Each vortex has two "eyes"—the centres of rotation, which are connected by distinct S-shaped cloud structures.
Atmosphere of Venus | Circulation
Areal surface water flow is represented in HydroGeoSphere by a two-dimensional depth-averaged flow equation, which is the diffusion-wave approximation of the Saint Venant equation for surface water flow. HydroGeoSphere's surface water flow component is implemented with the following assumptions: The surface flow components are solved by the following three equations, which are given by the following mass balance equation: coupled with the momentum equations, neglecting inertia terms, for the x-direction: and for the y-direction: where formula_16 is the surface flow domain porosity, formula_17 is the water surface elevation, formula_18 and formula_19 are the vertically averaged flow velocities in the x and y directions, formula_20 is the depth of surface water flow, formula_21 is the internal fluid exchange, and formula_22 is the external fluid exchange.
HydroGeoSphere | Surface water flow
The tropopause is not a "hard" boundary. Vigorous thunderstorms, for example, particularly those of tropical origin, will overshoot into the lower stratosphere and undergo a brief (hour-order or less) low-frequency vertical oscillation. Such oscillation sets up a low-frequency atmospheric gravity wave capable of affecting both atmospheric and oceanic currents in the region. Most commercial aircraft are flown in the lower stratosphere, just above the tropopause, during the cruise phase of their flights. In this region, clouds are usually absent, as significant weather perturbations also are.
Tropopause | Phenomena
The sinking of the jet first starts when the mid level inflow goes under the trailing stratiform cloud before descending to the melting layer.
Rear-inflow jet | Introduction
Using charts of mean 200-hectopascal circulation for July through August (located above sea level) to locate the circumpolar troughs and ridges, trough lines extend over the eastern and central North Pacific and over the North Atlantic. Case studies of upper tropospheric cyclones in the Atlantic and Pacific have been performed by using airplane reports (winds, temperatures and heights), radiosonde data, geostationary satellite cloud imagery, and cloud-tracked winds throughout the troposphere. It was determined they were the origin of an upper tropospheric cold-core lows, or cut-off lows.
Upper tropospheric cyclonic vortex | History of research
In 1494, Christopher Columbus experienced a tropical cyclone, which led to the first written European account of a hurricane. In 1686, Edmund Halley presented a systematic study of the trade winds and monsoons and identified solar heating as the cause of atmospheric motions. In 1735, an "ideal" explanation of global circulation through study of the trade winds was written by George Hadley. In 1743, when Benjamin Franklin was prevented from seeing a lunar eclipse by a hurricane, he decided that cyclones move in a contrary manner to the winds at their periphery. Understanding the kinematics of how exactly the rotation of the Earth affects airflow was partial at first.
Meteorology | Research into cyclones and air flow
Propagation path attenuation may be below free-space loss. Some of the lesser inversion types related to warm ground and cooler air moisture content occur regularly at certain times of the year and time of day. A typical example could be the late summer, early morning tropospheric enhancements that bring in signals from distances up to few hundred kilometers for a couple of hours, until undone by the Sun's warming effect.
Radio propagation | Tropospheric ducting
In atmospheric science, balanced flow is an idealisation of atmospheric motion. The idealisation consists in considering the behaviour of one isolated parcel of air having constant density, its motion on a horizontal plane subject to selected forces acting on it and, finally, steady-state conditions. Balanced flow is often an accurate approximation of the actual flow, and is useful in improving the qualitative understanding and interpretation of atmospheric motion. In particular, the balanced-flow speeds can be used as estimates of the wind speed for particular arrangements of the atmospheric pressure on Earth's surface.
Balanced flow | Introduction