Balanced convective circulations in a stratified atmosphere. Part II: circulations in the presence of radiation and the non-traditional coriolis terms

Abstract

The full Coriolis force consists of terms proportional to the sine and cosine of latitude. The latter, referred to as the non-traditional Coriolis terms, couple the zonal and vertical momentum equations, and are often neglected. When considering the incompressible Euler equations at the equator in the presence of the full Coriolis force, it can be shown that all dynamical fields can be diagnosed from the velocity potential, which itself is the solution to an elliptic equation that depends on latitude, momentum drag, and radiative damping. In this work, we present solutions to these equations for several different types of momentum drag and radiative damping. An important insight of our work is the combined effect that both rotation and radiation have on providing a mechanism for ascent and descent of air away from a localised source of heating.

Keywords:

• Coriolis force
• radiation
• convection
• weak temperature gradient
• rotation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).