SIMULATED CLIMATOLOGY OF A GENERAL CIRCULATION MODEL WITH A HYDROLOGIC CYCLE II. ANALYSIS OF THE TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE

Abstract

The thermal and dynamical structure of the tropical atmosphere which emerged from the numerical integration of our general circulation model with a simple hydrologic cycle is analyzed in detail. According to the results of our analysis, the lapse rate of zonal mean temperature in the model Tropics is super-moist-adiabatic in the lower troposphere, and is sub-moist-adiabatic above the 400-mb. level in qualitative agreement with the observed features in the actual Tropics. The flow field in the model Tropics also displays interesting features. For example, a zone of strong convergence and a belt of heavy rain develops around the equator. Synoptic-scale disturbances such as weak tropical cyclones and shear lines with strong convergence develop and are reminiscent of disturbances in the actual tropical atmosphere. The humid towers, which result from moist convective adjustment and condensation, develop in the central core of the regions of strong upward motion, sometimes reaching the level of the tropical tropopause and thus heating the upper tropical troposphere. This heating compensates for the cooling due to radiation and the meridional circulation. According to the analysis of the energy budget of the model Tropics, the release of eddy available potential energy, which is mainly generated by the heat of condensation, constitutes the major source of eddy kinetic energy of disturbances prevailing in the model Tropics.