The Role of Temperature Gradients versus Static Stability on the Zonal Wind and Eddy Kinetic Energy Response to Thermal Perturbations

Abstract

The relative roles of meridional temperature gradients and static stability with regard to the extratropical response to thermal perturbations are explored in a dry primitive equation (PE) GCM. A quasigeostrophic (QG) model is used to separate the relative roles because the static stability in a QG model is externally prescribed and can therefore be altered independently of the meridional temperature gradient. For most experiments, the changes in meridional temperature gradients make the largest contribution to the zonal-mean zonal wind (