Reply: Remarks on Natural Convection as a Heat Engine

Abstract

Emanuel and Bister discussed results of numerical experiments in which the radiative cooling rate of the atmosphere was arbitrarily specified. They suggested that the scaling theory for atmospheric convection proposed by Rennó and Ingersoll is not consistent with these results and proposed an alternative theory. Klein, in turn, argued that the results of these numerical experiments are consistent with the scaling theory proposed by Rennó and Ingersoll. The author shows further evidence in support of Klein?s arguments. Furthermore, it is shown that the alternative scaling theory proposed by Emanuel and Bister, though interesting, possesses a thermodynamic inconsistency.