On Horizontal Variations of Static Stability in the Thermodynamic Energy Equation

Abstract

A form of the thermodynamic equation with variable static stability and ageostrophic advection is derived. The effects of these two terms are then computed for four synoptic cases. Whereas the two influences tend to cancel in stable areas, this is not so in unstable regions. Since the two terms generally combine to produce minima in the effective stability in the areas where cyclogenesis took place, it is suggested that the derived equation would be useful in prognoses.