Local multiple equilibria and regional atmospheric blocking.

Abstract

In this paper, the mathematical problem of determining the stationary states of flow of barotropic fluid in a beta-plane when topography is nonsinusoidal is analyzed with the help of the perturbative assumptions that the latitudinal scale of the flow is very large and topography has the form of a slowly modulated sinusoid. The theoretical solutions are discussed in relationship to the problem of blocking as a 'regional' phenomenon and are shown to have several different features in common with observed persistent blocking patterns.-from Authors Istituto di Fisica, Bologna, Italy.