A Simplified Method of Computing Stratospheric Heating Rates and Associated Generation of Available Potential Energy

Abstract

A method of computing the stratospheric heating rates from available daily data of the Northern Hemisphere is given. It consists of a hybrid approach using both the simple parametric equations in the solar ultraviolet absorption and the radiative transfer equations in the long-wave spectrum (15-micron carbon dioxide and 9.6-micron ozone absorptions). This method has been applied in the stratosphere for the period Jan. 12 to 16, 1959, in order to compute the generation of available potential energy. The results indicate that the method, as well as being suitable for energy budget studies over longer periods of time, is sufficiently accurate to enable one to describe synoptically some of the aspects of the radiative exchange between troposphere and stratosphere. 359 360 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW Vol. 97, No. 5 near the Equator and lower concentration in the Arctic a t these levels (Hering et al., 1967).

A Study of the Energetics of January 1959

“…GE and GZ stand for the eddy and zonal generations of available potential energy, respectively. Some representative values (Paulin 1968(Paulin , 1969 are chosen for these processes. CE and CZ are obtained from the computed CE* and CZ* once GE and GZ are chosen.…”

“…The zonal and eddy generations of available potential energy at 25 mb mere taken to be 0.8 and -2.5 ergs cmP2 mb-I sec-', respectively. This choice was based on the results of Perry (1966) and Paulin (1969).…”

“…The 100-mb spectral kinetic energy budget is again characterized by weak transfer rates. The CE(n) magnitudes have been obtained using previously computed GE(n) values from Paulin (1969). In any case, most conversions are small, and the only statistically significant conversion (weakly significant) belongs to the nonlinear.…”