Article
Article
Dynamic meteorology
Article By:
Holton, James R. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Last reviewed:November 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.207575
The study of those motions of the atmosphere that are associated with weather and climate. Atmospheric motions span an enormous range of spatial and temporal scales; dynamic meteorology concentrates mainly on large-scale and mesoscale motions. Large-scale motions are those with horizontal scales in excess of a few hundred kilometers and time scales longer than a day. Such motions are strongly influenced by the rotation of the Earth and by the vertical thermal stratification of the atmosphere. Mesoscale motions have horizontal scales in the range of a few kilometers to a few hundred kilometers; they are often associated with convective clouds and precipitation.
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