A Theoretical Evaluation of the Relevance of Lognormal Distributions for the Moisture Flux and Wind Components

Abstract

In this study the individual components of the horizontal moist wind are derived and expressed as a function of the horizontal pressure gradients. The drag on the large-scale horizontal wind by mesoscale diabatic activity is shown to be consistent with homogeneous Lagrangian solutions that asymptotically approach a lognormal distribution. The kinematic moisture flux components are also shown to contain homogeneous solutions that behave asymptotically as a lognormal distribution. These findings are considered relevant to the large number of observed occurrences of the lognormal distribution in cloud and rainfall statistics.