The Global Atmospheric Circulation on Moist Isentropes
Olivier Pauluis,1*
Arnaud Czaja,2
Robert Korty3
The global atmospheric circulation transports energy from the
equatorial regions to higher latitudes through a poleward flow
of high-energy and -entropy parcels and an equatorward flow
of air with lower energy and entropy content. Because of its
turbulent nature, this circulation can only be described in
some averaged sense. Here, we show that the total mass transport
by the circulation is twice as large when averaged on moist
isentropes than when averaged on dry isentropes. The additional
mass transport on moist isentropes corresponds to a poleward
flow of warm moist air near Earth's surface that rises into
the upper troposphere within mid-latitudes and accounts for
up to half of the air in the upper troposphere in polar regions.
2 Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Department of Physics, Imperial College, Huxley Building, Room 726, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
3 Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, 3150 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843–3150, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pauluis{at}cims.nyu.edu
