On the Atmospheric Kinetic Energy Spectrum and Its Estimation at Some Selected Stations

Abstract

The motion of the atmosphere, with its climatological trend and periodic components excluded, is considered to be a stationary random process, under the control of macroscopic factors such as the solar constant, the rate of earth's rotation, the distribution and physical natures of land and sea, etc. In an effort to develop understanding of the statistical features of this process, the Eulerian frequency energy spectra of the large-scale atmospheric motions were constructed at 12 North American and nearby island stations from lengthy wind data. Examination of these spectra reveals that: 1) they are red-noise in character, 2) there is no systematic relationship between the shape of the spectrum and the local rate of earth's rotation, 3) there is a cut-down of spectral energy at low frequencies at 950 mb at some stations, 4) the shape of the spectrum is very much the same at levels in the mid and high troposphere, and 5) a spectral peak at some stations may correspond to the frequency of cyclone occurrence.