NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS WITH A VERTICALLY PARAMETERIZED MODEL DESIGNED TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF HIGH-LEVEL HEATING ON THE LARGE-SCALE CIRCULATION OF THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE.
Abstract
Two series of numerical integrations are carried out with a vertically parameterized model which was designed for the purpose of studying the effects of high-level heating on the large-scale circulation of the lower atmosphere. The initial data required by the model are the surface temperature distribution, the vertically integrated streamfield, and the temperature distribution at the top of the atmosphere, which is taken to be 0.1 mb, about 65 km. The initial data for the surface temperature distribution and the vertically integrated streamfield are taken respectively from the observed surface and 500 mb northern hemisphere charts at the time of a large geomagnetic disturbance. This time is assumed to coincide with an influx of solar corpuscular radiation down to auroral levels. The corpuscular radiation perturbs the upper-level temperature distribution by superimposing upon a constant temperature of 247K (the undisturbed state) a temperature increment proportional to the observed auroral frequency distribution. The total heat input is modest, resulting in an average increment of about 7C in 24 hours at the 0.1 mb level. The results indicate that in this model significant changes in the large-scale tropospheric circulation can be produced by the type of upper-level heating introduced. The changes are consistent with what was expected from empirical studies, but improvements in the model are necessary before it can be concluded that such changes would constitute a response of the real atmosphere to a solar energy perturbation. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0679994
Entities
People
- Louis Berkofsky
- Ralph Shapiro
Organizations
- Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories