Enhanced Poleward Propagation of Barotropic Rossby Waves by the Free-Surface Divergent Effect

Abstract

The meridional propagation of Rossby waves links different latitudes. Traditional wave propagation theory is mostly discussed in the non-divergent atmosphere. This work emphasizes the influence of the divergent effect on wave propagation by analyzing wave solutions to the linearized shallow-water quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity equation on the zonal mean flow. Changes in the basic-state quantities and wave solutions generated from consideration of the divergent effect are highlighted. Compared with the non-divergent situation, more waves are allowed to exist and propagate to much higher latitudes in the divergent case. The turning latitudes are generally moved northward when the divergent effect is included. This main conclusion is robust in the idealized super-rotational flow and 300 hPa climatological flows in winter and summer. The divergent effect also tends to slow the speed of wave propagation and favor waves reaching remoter longitudes. These finding implicates Rossby wave propagation with divergent effect may contribute more to the long-distance teleconnection than that in non-divergent case. (Citation: Li, Y., 2020: Enhanced poleward propagation of barotropic Rossby waves by the free-surface divergent effect. SOLA, 16, 92-96, doi:10.2151/sola.2020-016.)