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There is no horizontal gravity force in geopotential coordinates.

James C McWilliams1

  • 1Department of Atmopsheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|November 18, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study shows that using geopotential coordinates eliminates the horizontal component of Earth's gravity-rotation force in geophysical models. This provides a framework for refining atmospheric and oceanic circulation models.

Keywords:
Earth’s rotationgeopotential coordinatesgravity force

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Area of Science:

  • Geophysics
  • Atmospheric Science
  • Oceanography

Background:

  • Traditional geophysical models for large-scale circulations often neglect the horizontal component of Earth's gravity-rotation force.
  • This practice has faced recent challenges, necessitating a re-evaluation of the underlying assumptions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the implications of neglecting the horizontal component of Earth's gravity-rotation force in geophysical models.
  • To demonstrate the effect of a coordinate transformation into geopotential coordinates on this force.

Main Methods:

  • A coordinate transformation into geopotential coordinates was applied to the geophysical modeling framework.
  • The analysis focused on the behavior of Earth's gravity-rotation force within this new coordinate system.

Main Results:

  • The coordinate transformation into geopotential coordinates effectively removes the horizontal component of Earth's gravity-rotation force.
  • This finding validates the use of models that have historically omitted this force component.

Conclusions:

  • The geopotential coordinate framework provides a theoretical justification for current modeling practices.
  • This framework can serve as a basis for future, more refined geophysical models of atmospheric and oceanic circulation.