Energy Cycle in the Lower Atmosphere

Abstract

After resolving the contour heights at the 500 and 1000 mb levels into Fourier series, daily estimates have been made for all possible interaction terms, including the upward transfer of energy into the upper atmosphere, during a one year period from October 1962 to September 1963. It was found that (1) the release of available potential energy is maximum for the wave of wave number 3 in the lower atmosphere, presumably this conversion process is related to the diabatic effect due to the land and sea distribution, (2) the release of available potential energy is almost compensated for by the export of energy to the upper atmosphere, which is largely accomplished by the ultra-long waves of wave numbers 2 and 3, (3) the kinetic energy of the ultra-long waves is partly supplied from all the other waves through nonlinear interaction.
An examination of the monthly mean values of the interaction terms in January and February 1963, when the pronounced "blocking" persisted over the northern hemisphere, revealed that "blocking" plays an important part in maintaining the general circulation of the atmosphere. In section 5 will be presented the power spectrum of each interaction term, in order to study the nature of the fluctuations in the energy cycle of the atmosphere.