Classic and Historical Papers Papers on Atmospheric General Circulation

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Atmospheric Dynamics

Some old classics

Hadley, G. 1735. Concerning the cause of the general trade winds. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 29, 58-62.
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This is Hadley's classic paper. Note that the meaning of 'trade-winds' was not, at that time, generally restricted to tropical winds.

Ferrel, W. 1856. An essay on the winds and currents of the ocean. Nashville J. Med. \& Surg., 11, 287-301.
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Ferrel, W. 1858. The influence of the Earth's rotation upon the relative motion of bodies near its surface. Astron. J., Vol V. No. 109, 97-100.
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Ferrel, W. 1859. The motion of Fluids and Solids relative to the Earth's Surface. Math. Monthly, 1, 140--148, 210--216, 300--307, 366--373, 397--406.
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Thomson, J. 1857. On the grand currents of atmospheric circulation
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Thomson, J. 1892. Bakerian lecture: On the grand currents of atmospheric circulation. Phil Trans. Roy. Soc. London, A, 183, 653-684.
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This is a review paper on the atmospheric general circulation, as it stood in 1859. In particular Thomson looks at Ferrel's ideas, and notes how they evolved from a three-celled structure (which Ferrel himself seems to have came to believe was not viable) to a two-celled structure, similar to one that Thomson himself had proposed in 1857 (ref. above).

Bigelow, F. H. 1902. Studies on the statics and kinematics of the atmosphere in the United States. (Parts 1-IV)
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Bigelow, F. H. 1902. Studies on the statics and kinematics of the atmosphere in the United States. Part V. Relations between the general circulation and the cyclones and anti-cyclones.
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Toward the modern era

Defant, A. 1921. Die Zirkulation der Atmosphare in den gemassigten Breiten der Erde. Grundzuge einer Theorie der Klimaschwankungen. (The circulation of the atmosphere in the Earth's midlatitudes. Basic features of a theory of climate fluctuations). Geograf. Ann, 3, 209-266.
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Jeffreys, H. 1926. On the dynamics of geostrophic winds. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 51, 85-101.
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Defant and Jeffreys ushered in the 'modern' age of the general circulation, with their realization that non-axisymmetric aspects of the atmosphere were essential. Defant seemed to realize that large-scale turbulence was responsible for the bulk of the meriodonal transport of heat, although the dynamics behind this, and the interaction of waves and turbulence, was still some time away. Jeffreys' somewhat more dynamical paper explored the importance of lateral angular momentum transfer on the sphere.

The beginning of the modern era

Papers by Eric Eady. (Not all papers by Eady are classics, but I've nevertheless included most of the ones I know about. He is one of the very few scientists of whom it can be fairly said that we would have liked for him to have published more.)

Eady, E. 1950. The Cause of the General Circulation of the Atmosphere. Cent. Proc. Roy. Met. Soc. 156-172.
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Eady, E. 1953. The Maintenance of the Mean Zonal Surface Currents. Proc. Toronto Meteor. Conf. 138, 124-128.
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The above papers by Eady are important early discussion papers on the nature of the atmospheric general circulation.

Eady, E. T. and Sawyer, J.S. 1951. Dynamics of flow patterns in extra-tropical regions. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 77, 531-551.
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Eady, E. T. 1952. Note on weather computing and the so-called 2 1/2-dimensional model. Tellus, 1952, 157-167.
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Eady, E. T., 1957 The general circulation of the atmosphere and oceans. In: The Earth and Its Atmosphere, ed. D. R. Bates. New York, Basic Books, 130--151.
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Two other Eady papers are his famous 1949 one on baroclinic instability (click here) and another on cyclone development and predictability (click here), both available from the general section. There is also an Eady article entitled 'Climate' in the Bates volume referenced above.

Mean Zonal Flows and the General Circulation

Kuo, H.-l. 1951. Vorticity transfer as related to the development of the general circulation J. Meteor., 8, 307-135.
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Kuo, H.-l. 1953. On the production of mean zonal currents in the atmosphere by large disturbances. Tellus, 5, 475-493.
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The 1951 paper is an important one in the development of ideas related to the maintenance of the surface westerlies. Kuo realizes that, given a monotonic meridional gradient of vorticity (e.g., the beta effect) the meridional transfer of vorticity will lead to the generation of zonal mean flows. A different version of this argument can by found in section 12.1.2 of the book, Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics. The 1953 paper attacks the problem by computing tendencies of the barotropic vorticity equation on the rotating sphere.

A related argument for the generation of mean flows, expressed in terms of the momentum flux in Rossby waves, was first described by
Dickinson, R. E., 1969. Theory of Planetary Wave-Zonal Interaction. J. Atmos. Sci., 26, 73-81.
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and more explicitly by
Thompson, R.O.R.Y., 1971. Why there is an intense eastward current in the North Atlantic but not in the South Atlantic. J. Phys. Oceanog., 1, 235-237.
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Thompson does not seem to have been aware of Kuo's 1951 argument - which is, after all, quite different. (One might say that the two arguments are different explications but ultimately the same explanation.)

Phillips, N. A. The general circulation of the atmosphere: a numerical experiment. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 82, 123-164.
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This is one of the first numerical experiments on the general circulation, performed with a two-level quasi-geostrophic model. Phillips includes forcing and dissipation, and obtains qualitatively realistic circulation patterns.

I will post related papers by Rossby, Starr, Longuet-Higgins and others in due course. I just haven't got round to it yet.

The modern era

I haven't posted any yet, because this age is still with us and I'm not quite ready to make a coherent selection.

Tropopause and the Stratosphere

Assmann, R. 1902. Uber die Existenz eines warmeren Luftstromes in der Hoehe von 10 bis 15 km. (On the existence of a warmer airflow at heights from 10 to 15 km). Sitzber. Koenigl. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 24, 495-504.
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Teisserenc de Bort, M. L. 1902. Variations de la temperature de l'air libre dans la zone comprise 8 km et 13 km d'altitude (Variations in the temperature of the free air in the zone between 8 km and 13 km of altitude) C. R. Hebd. Seances Acad. Sci., 24, 987-989.
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The papers by Assmann and Teisserenc de Bort seem to be the first ones that report on the existence of a tropopause. See also the review by Hoinka.

about any of the above.