AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF PLANETARY WAVES BY MEANS OF HARMONIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The first twelve harmonics of the observed flow pattern of the upper-level westerlies for the 31 days of January 1952 have been computed and are presented in tabular form. It is shown that the sum of the first three harmonics approximates the hemispheric basic flow in which the moving perturbations are embedded. The observed, basic and perturbation flow-patterns for January 1952 are shown. The study shows that the representation of a complex flow pattern by a few of its harmonic components preserves its essential features and will simplify the study of possible relationships between this flow pattern and other phenomena such as local weather and solar or geomagnetic effects.