Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Atmospheric Heat Sources and Moisture Sinks as Determined from NCEP–NCAR Reanalysis

Abstract

Using the National Centers for Environmental Predictions (NCEP)-National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis, distributions of the heat source Q 1 and moisture sink Q 2 between 50N and 50S are determined for a 15-yr period from 1980 to 1994. Heating mechanisms operating in various parts of the world are examined by comparing the horizontal distributions of the vertically integrated heat source Q 1 with those of the vertically integrated moisture sink Q 2 and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) flux and by comparing the vertical distributions of Q 1 with those of Q 2 .