Thermally driven motions in an equatorial beta-plane: Hadley and Walker circulations during the winter monsoon.

Abstract

The linearized shallow-water equatorial beta-plane equation was solved for a subset of approximate solutions applicable to thermally driven large-scale tropical circulation. In particular, the heat-induced monsoon circulations during SE Asian northeasterly cold surges are investigated. It was demonstrated that the response of the tropical atmosphere to a localized heat source consists of forced Rossby waves propagating westward and Kelvin waves eastward along the equator away from the region of forcing. -from Authors