Dynamical adjustment of the trade wind inversion layer

Abstract

In schematic north-south cross sections the trade inversion layer is often depicted as sloping upward as air flows toward the intertropical convergence zone. Purely thermodynamic boundary-layer models, predict a deeper boundary layer with increasing sea surface temperature and decreasing large-scale subsidence. The slopes implied by such thermodynamic models and incorporated into schematic diagrams are approximately 2000 m/1000 km. In contrast, observational studies of the inversion structure over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans reveal a less dramatic slope, on the order of 300 m/1000 km. To address this inconsistency, the authors adopt a somewhat different view of the trade inversion layer. In particular rather than regarding it as a purely thermodynamic structure, it is regarded as a dynamical structure. -from Authors