2022/06/29 by Alexander V. Kochin, Kochin, Alexander V.
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Geophysics (physics.geo-ph) #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2206.14887
openalex publication_date 2022/06/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Understanding processes that determine the global circulation of the atmosphere is necessary for long-term weather forecasting and climate studies which are critical for ensuring energy security. Processes in the atmosphere depend on many factors including the rotation of the Earth. The vertical component of the emerging centripetal acceleration is taken into account by introducing a geopotential height, and the influence of the horizontal component is usually not taken into account, although these components are close in magnitude. Here, I describe a mechanism of circulation formation due to a non-hydrostatic pressure gradient resulting from centripetal acceleration, which is created by the rotation of the Earth. The effect is similar to the curvature of a water surface in a rotating vessel. This causes the unevenly heated air to move in a meridional direction. The circulation consists of three oppositely directed flows separated vertically by the polar and tropical tropopause.