Equivalent Barotropic Model

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Equivalent Barotropic Model

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A model atmosphere characterized by (a) frictionless and adiabatic flow (b) hydrostatic and quasigeostrophic equilibrium, and in which (c) the vertical shear of the horizontal wind is assumed to be proportional to the horizontal wind itself. </dd>
An equivalent-barotropic atmosphere is, accordingly, an atmosphere in which the wind does not change direction with height and consequently one in which the contours and isotherms (on isobaric surfaces, for example) are everywhere parallel. In such an atmosphere, the vertically averaged motions are presumably equivalent to those at some intermediate level, the equivalent-barotropic level. In terms of the motion at this level, assumed to be an isobaric surface, the behavior of the equivalent-barotropic model may be described by a single equation (the vorticity equation) in a single unknown (the height of the isobaric surface). See barotropic vorticity equation. </dd>

References

This article is based on NASA's Dictionary of Technical Terms for Aerospace Use