EIGENSOLUTIONS OF THE LINEARIZED BALANCE EQUATIONS OVER A SPHERE.

Abstract

Solutions of the linearized balance equations over a sphere are presented and compared with the Laplace's tidal equations results obtained by Longuet-Higgins. This study searches for a partial answer concerning the accuracy of the balance system for describing slow, large-scale motions in the atmosphere. The solutions corresponding to Hough's second class waves are well described by the balance system. At large values of epsilon there are apparent discrepancies for the Rossby symmetric modes as compared to Longuet-Higgins type 2 solutions. Nevertheless, for the antisymmetric modes the agreement is good. The linearized version of the motions studied by Burger is also a solution of the balance equations, corresponding to small frequencies and negative values of epsilon .