Superrotation planetary atmospheres: Mechanical analogy, angular momentum budget and simulation of the spin up process

Details Superrotation planetary atmospheres: Mechanical analogy, angular momentum budget and simulation of the spin up process Superrotation planetary atmospheres: Mechanical analogy, angular momentum budget and simulation of the spin up process

Mar 1981

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1981aaspsmeetq....m&link_type=abstract

Presented at the 12th Ann. Meeting of the Div. of Planetary Sci. of the Am. Astron. Soc., Tucson, Ariz., Oct. 1980

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Atmospheric Circulation, Atmospheric Heating, Free Convection, Planetary Atmospheres, Planetary Rotation, Wave Propagation, Mass Transfer, Mathematical Models, Meridional Flow, Planetary Waves, Rotating Fluids, Vertical Distribution

Scientific paper

Superrotation rates observed in planetary atmospheres are analyzed based on the concept of a thermally driven zonally symmetric circulation. Specifically, how this superrotation is produced and maintained against the tendency for friction to oppose differential motions between the atmosphere and the underlying planet is addressed. The time evolution of a fluid leading from corotation under uniform heating to superrotation under globally nonuniform heating is simulated using a three dimensional zonally symmetric spectral model and Laplace transformation. The increased tendency toward geostrophy combined with the increase of surface pressure toward the poles (due to meridional mass transport), induces the atmosphere to subrotate temporarily at lower altitudes. The resulting viscous shear near the surface thus permits angular momentum to flow from the planet into the atmosphere where it propagates upwards and, combined with the change in moment of inertia, produces large superrotation rates at higher viscosities.

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