| San José State University |
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Thayer Watkins Silicon Valley & Tornado Alley USA |
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for Estimating Vertical Flow |
In meteorology the symbol ω is used to represent the
rate of change of pressure in a parcel over time, dp/dt. When pressure is
used as the vertical coordinate dp/dt is analogous to the horizontal
velocities, u=dx/dt and v=dy/dt. Thus dp/dt=ω is in the nature
of a velocity. Under hydrostatic balance it is proportional to the
vertical wind velocity w; i.e.,
ω = dp/dt = (dp/dz)(dz/dt) = (dp/dz)w
but under hydrostatic equilibrium
Both w and ω are difficult to measure directly so the field of meteorology has developed methods to estimate vertical wind flow. Three such methods are:
where VH is the horizontal wind velocity vector.
where T is temperature and Sp is the static stability parameter (Γd-Γ)/ρg.
where Sp is again the static stability parameter and f and f0 are the Coriolis parameter (f as a function of latitude and f0 a constant value). Φ is geopotential height.
The problem with using the estimate of ω based upon the continuity equation is that the divergence term depends upon the imperfectly known ageostrophic wind in as much as the divergence of the geostrophic wind is necessarily zero. Furthermore the estimate of the ω field based upon the continuity equation might not be consistent with the thermodynamic equation. Likewise the problem with the estimate of the ω field based upon the thermodynamic equation is that it might not be consistent with the continuity equation. The ω equation which is derived from both the continuity equation and the thermodynamic equation is consistent with both. The problem in using the ω equation is that the equation gives a partial differential equation for ω which must be solved to obtain the values of ω. But this is a computational problem rather than a problem in consistency or measurement as in the case of the continuity and adiabatic methods.
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