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Towards Mathematics, Computers and Environment: A Disasters Perspective pp 37–58Cite as

Balances in the Atmosphere and Ocean: Implications for Forecasting and Reliability

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Abstract

Scale interactions between a variety of motions in the atmosphere and ocean have many theoretical and practical implications from predictability at the weather scales to reliability at the slow seasonal and climate scales. Two classes of wavy motions are prominent at the hydrostatic limit, for instance: the fast inertia-gravity waves and the slow Rossby waves. Although only Rossby waves are believed to be of direct meteorological significance, neglecting the fast oscillations may corrupt numerical integrations leading to unrealistic results and eventually to a complete model crash. Reliability of long seasonal and climate scales depends upon a proper representation of, at least, the statistics of the weather scale phenomena under given boundary conditions. The predictability of the weather scale phenomena, on the other hand, depends on the proper evolution of the system from a given initial condition. It has long been shown that a balance between stringent and permissive control of the high-frequency oscillations can allow improvements to weather forecasting. Behind these concepts are the ways by which Rossby waves can interact, horizontally and vertically, with high-frequency oscillations, or with other slow frequency oscillations and even with topography. Thus, in the present work we make a review of Rossby wave theory, considering its generation mechanisms and their interactions, including a brief discussion of some applications for the atmosphere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies, National Institute for Space Research, São Paulo, Brazil

    Enver Ramírez & Rosio Camayo

  2. University of Miami, Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL, USA

    Léo Siqueira

Authors
  1. Enver Ramírez
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  2. Léo Siqueira
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  3. Rosio Camayo
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Correspondence to Enver Ramírez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (CEMADEN), São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Leonardo Bacelar Lima Santos

  2. Institute of Science and Technology, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São José dos Campos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Rogério Galante Negri

  3. Department of Informatics, Federal Institute of São Paulo (IFSP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Tiago José de Carvalho

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Ramírez, E., Siqueira, L., Camayo, R. (2019). Balances in the Atmosphere and Ocean: Implications for Forecasting and Reliability. In: Bacelar Lima Santos, L., Galante Negri, R., de Carvalho, T. (eds) Towards Mathematics, Computers and Environment: A Disasters Perspective. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21205-6_3

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