Global Circulation of Latent Heat in the Earth’s Atmosphere According to Data from Satellite Radiothermovision

Abstract

The methodical bases and some results of using satellite radiothermovision to study global atmospheric latent heat circulation according to the data of regular satellite radiothermal monitoring are described. This approach does not use an a priori model of circulation; it implements an objective procedure for the analysis of the dynamics of periodically measured fields of total precipitable water. The reconstructed directions and the values of the mean-zonal transport velocity, the average position of the thermal equator at ~5° N, and the positions of the axis of the intertropical convergence zone over individual oceans are very consistent with the known results of independent observations and numerical modeling. Some problematic aspects of the analysis procedure are discussed.