http://www.physics.

curtin
.edu.au/teaching/units/2003/Avp201/?plain
Lec02.ppt

Equations of Motion
Or: How the atmosphere moves

Objectives
To derive an equation which describes the
horizontal and vertical motion of the
atmosphere
Explain the forces involved
Show how these forces produce the
equation of motion
Show how the simplified equation is
produced

Newtons Laws
The fundamental law used to try and
determine motion in the atmosphere is
Newtons 2nd Law
Force = Mass x Acceleration

Meteorology is a science that likes the

KISS principle, and to further simplify
matters we shall consider only a unit mass.
i.e. Force = Acceleration

Frame of Reference
If we were to consider absolute
acceleration relative to fixed stars (i.e. a
non-rotating Earth )
Then our equation would read something
like this;
Dv
Dt

The rate of change of velocity with time is

equal to the sum of the forces acting on
the parcel

Frame of Reference
For a non-rotating Earth, these forces are:
Pressure gradient force (Pgf)
Gravitational force (ga) and
Friction force (F)

Frame of Reference
However, we dont live on a non-rotating
Earth, and we have to consider the
additional forces which arise due to this
rotation, and these are:
Centrifugal Force (Ce) and
Coriolis Force (Cof)

Equation of Motion
We now have a new equation which states
that:

Dv
Pgf g a F C e C of
Dt

i.e. The relative acceleration relative to the

Earth is equal to the real forces (Pressure
gradient, Gravity and Friction) plus the
apparent forces Centrifugal force and
Coriolis force

A Useable form
If we now consider the centrifugal force we
can combine it with the gravitational force
(ga) to produce a single gravitational force
(g), since the centrifugal force depends
only on position relative to the Earth.
Hence, g = ga + Ce

A Useable form
We can now write our equation as:

Dv
Pgf g F C of
Dt
We now look at the equation in its
component forms, since we are
considering the atmosphere as a 3Dimensional entity

Conventions
In Meteorology, the conventions for the
components in the horizontal and vertical are;
x = E-W flow
y = N-S flow
Z = Vertical motion

Also, the conventions for velocity are

u = velocity E-W
v = velocity N-S
w = Vertical velocity

Pressure Gradient Force

Force acting on air by virtue of spatial
variations of pressure
These changes in pressure (or Pressure
Gradient) are given by;

Change of pressure p
Change in distance n

Pressure Gradient Force

If we now consider this pressure gradient
acting on a unit cubic mass of air with
volume given by x y z we can say that
the Pressure gradient (Pg) on this cube is
given by:
(Pg) = Force/Volume.

Pressure Gradient Force

We can also say that the volume of this unit
mass is the specific volume which is given
by 1/, where is density.
This has the dimensions of Volume/Mass.
The dimensions of the Pressure gradient are
Force/Volume

Pressure Gradient Force

1 p Volume Force
Force

n
Mass Volume Mass
Force Mass x Acceleration
Force
Acceleration
Mass
Mass Unity Acceleration Force

Pressure Gradient Force

Therefore we have the Pressure Gradient
Force (Pgf) given by;

1 p
Pgf
n
This Pgf acts from High pressure to Low
pressure, and so we have a final equation
which reads;
1 dp

Pgf -

dn

Pressure Gradient Force

Because we are dealing in 3-D, there are
components to this Pgf and these are given
as follows;
Pgf x
Pgf y
Pgf z

p
x
p
y
p
z

Pressure Gradient Force

Combining the components we get a total
Pgf of
1

p
p
p
i x j y k z

The components i and j are the P gf for

horizontal motion and the k component is
the Pgf for vertical motion.

Horizontal Pgf
We can simplify matters still further if we
take the x axis or y axis normal to the
isobars, i.e. in the direction of the gradient.
We then only have to consider one of the
components as the other one will be zero.
y

1020
1018
x

1 p
Pgf =
y

1016

Vertical Pgf
In the synoptic scale (large scale motions
such as highs and lows), the Vertical P gf is
almost exactly balanced by gravity.
So we can say that p

- g

This is known as the Hydrostatic equation,

and basically states that for synoptic scale
motion there is no vertical acceleration

Coriolis Force
This is an apparent force caused by the
rotation of the Earth.
It causes a change of direction of air parcels in
motion
In the Southern Hemisphere this deflection is to
the LEFT.
Is proportional to | V | sin where is the local
latitude
Its magnitude is proportional to the wind strength

Coriolis Force
It can be shown that the Coriolis force is given
by
2 sin V
The term 2 sin is known as the Coriolis
parameter and is often written in texts as f.
Because of the relationship with the sine of the
latitude Cof has a maximum at the Poles and is
zero at the equator (Sin 0 = 0).

Coriolis Force

Frames of referenceRoundabouts (1)

Our earth is spinning rather
slowly (i.e. once per day)
and so any effects are hard
to observe over short time
periods
A rapidly spinning
roundabout is better
From off the roundabout, a
thrown ball travels in a
straight line.

Frames of referenceRoundabouts (2)

But if youre on the
roundabout, the ball
appears to take a
curved path.
And if the roundabout
is spinning clockwise,
the ball is deflected to
the left

Components of Cof
It can be shown that the horizontal and
vertical components of the Cof are as
follows;
x 2 v sin - 2 w cos

y - 2 u cos
z 2 u cos

The complete equation

We can now write the equation of motion
which describes the motion of particles on a
rotating Earth.
Remembering that the equation states that;
Acceleration = Pgf + Cof + g + F,
We can write the equation as follows;

The complete equation

(Ignoring frictional

effects)

du
1 p
2 v sin - 2 w cos
dt
x
dv 1 p

- 2 u sin
dt y
dw
1 p
2 u cos - g
dt
z

Scale analysis
Even though the equation has been simplified by
excluding Frictional effects and combining the
Centrifugal force with the Gravitational force, it is
still a complicated equation.
To further simplify, a process known as Scale
analysis is employed.
We simply assign typical scale values to each
element and then eliminate those values which are
SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than the rest

Scale Analysis
Element

Typical Value Magnitude

u,v Horizontal velocity

10-20 ms

w Vertical velocity

1 cms

10 m

L Length (distance)

1000km

10 m

H Depth (Height)

10km

10 m

-1

-1

10 m
-2
6
4
3

Horizontal Pressure Change 10 - 20 hPa

10 Pa

Vertical Pressure Change

1000 hPa

10 Pa

L/U (Time)
(Density)

27 Hours

10 secs

g (Gravity)
(Angular velocity)

9.8 ms

1 kgm

5
5

-3

10 kgm

-2

10 ms

7.29 x 10

-4

-3

-2

10 Radians s

-1

Scale Analysis
du
1 p
2 v sin - 2 w cos
dt
x

101
103
-4
-3
-4
1
-3
-4
-2
6
10

1
10

[10
10
(10
)]
[10
10
(
10
)]
5
6
10
10

dv
1 p
- 2 sin
dt
y
3
101
10
-4
-3
-4
1
-3
(10
)

1
(10
)
10
10
(10
)
5
6
10
10

dw
1 p
2 cos - g
dt
z
10 -2
105
-7
1
-4
1
-3
1
(10
)

1
(10
)

10
10
(10
)
10
10-5
10 4

Scale Analysis (Horizontal

Motion)
From the previous slide we can see that for
the horizontal equations of motion du/dt and
dv/dt, the largest terms are the P gf and the
Coriolis term involving u and v.
The acceleration is an order of magnitude
smaller but it cannot be ignored.

Scale Analysis (Vertical Motion)

For the vertical equation we can see that there are
two terms which are far greater than the other two.
The acceleration is of an order of magnitude so
much smaller than the Pgf and Gravity that it CAN
be ignored
We can say therefore that for SYNOPTIC scale
motion, vertical acceleration can be ignored and
that a state of balance called the Hydrostatic
Equation exists

Simplified Equation of Motion

Using the assumptions of no friction and
negligible vertical motion and using the
Coriolis parameter f = 2sin, we can state
the Simplified equations of motion as

Simplified Equation of Motion

du
1 p
fv
dt
x
dv
1 p
- fu
dt
y
1 p
0- g Which becomes the hydrostatic equation
z
p
- g
z

References
Wallace and Hobbs Atmospheric Science
pp 365 - 375
Thom Meteorology and Navigation
pp 6.3 - 6.4
Crowder Wonders of the Weather
pp 52 - 53
http://www.shodor.org/metweb/session4/se
ssion4.html