Article
Article
Atmospheric tides
Article By:
Lindzen, Richard S. Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Last reviewed:November 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.059600
Those oscillations in any or all atmospheric fields whose periods are integral fractions of either lunar or solar days. Oscillations with a period of a day are called diurnal, with a period of a half day semidiurnal, and with a period of a third of a day terdiurnal. A common nomenclature does not exist for smaller fractions of a day. The sum of all tidal variations is referred to as the daily variation. As a practical matter, the subject of atmospheric tides is generally restricted to oscillations on a global spatial scale (thus excluding sea breezes). Moreover, the bulk of attention is devoted to migrating tides, which are those tidal oscillations that depend only on local time.
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