Life Cycles of Moist Baroclinic Eddies: Mean Flow Adjustment and Modification by Surface Fluxes

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Dynamical heat transports by mid-latitude, baroclinically unstable waves interact with a variety of physical processes to control the climatic state. Classical instability analyses and numerous case studies of storm evolution indicate an essential contribution by latent heat release to the development of baroclinic waves. In addition, the transport of latent heat associated with transient baroclinic eddies is known to have a significant effect on climatic balances of heat, momentum and moisture. Previous studies of moist baroclinically unstable waves from a climatic perspective have been limited to a few cases where only the aggregate effect of a spectrum of waves have been simulated. This research will investigate the effects of moisture condensation on the life cycles of baroclinically unstable waves using a spherical, primitive equations model. The study will emphasize the mechanisms that affect the dynamics of climate, filling the gap between studies of individual storms and studies of the hydrological cycle in general circulation models. It will seek insight into the climatology of eddy flux structure, its interaction with the zonal mean state and the influence of surface fluxes. Because it emphasizes climatic processes, the study will concentrate on synoptic and planetary-scale waves, which emerge with the largest amplitudes when a spectrum of waves are perturbed in baroclinically unstable flow. This research is important because it should improve our understanding of interactions between atmospheric circulation and the hydrological cycle.