THE STABILITY PROPERTIES AND STRUCTURE OF DISTURBANCES IN A BAROCLINIC ATMOSPHERE

Abstract

The stability properties and the vertical variations of the amplitudes and phase angles of disturbances in a baroclinic zonal current are discussed, by use of approximate solutions. It is found that, when friction is neglected, the waves shorter than a critical wavelength Lc, are all unstable, and there exists a most unstable wave with wavelength Lk. Both Lc, and Lk depend upon the vertical wind shear and the static-stability factor. The results also show that the very long waves are essentially upper-level phenomena, while the very short waves are limited to the lower part of the atmosphere, and their amplitudes decrease rapidly with height.