| In a forced-dissipative barotropic model of the atmosphere on a spherical
planet, by following mathematical techniques in (Thompson, P. D.: The
equilibrium energy spectrum of randomly forced two-dimensional turbulence,
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 30, 1593–1598, 1973) but applying them
in a novel context of the discrete spectrum on a rotating sphere, the "minus
2" energy spectrum for wavenumbers much greater than a characteristic
wavenumber of the baroclinic forcing has been obtained if the forcing is
taken in the simplest and most fundamental form. Some observation-based
atmospheric kinetic energy spectra, with their slopes lying between "minus
2" and "minus 3" laws, are discussed from the perspective of the deduced
"minus 2" energy spectrum. |