A METHOD OF REPRESENTING THE HORIZONTAL PRESSURE FORCE WITHOUT REDUCTION OF STATION PRESSURES TO SEA LEVEL

Abstract

A coordinate system is presented in which the lowest coordinate surface represents the topography of the earth. Higher coordinate surfaces reflect this topography in diminishing degrees and become isobaric at and above the 500-mb level. A method of representing the field of the horizontal pressure force in the nonisobaric coordinate surfaces, using geostrophic stream and potential functions, is described. Geostrophic winds computed from these functions are compared with those obtained from the customary sea-level charts and with observed winds.