Summary
An analysis of the kinetic energy budget is made for a cyclonic development over the Mediterranean. Horizontal flux convergence constitutes a major energy source. Generation of kinetic energy via cross-contour flow is a persistent sink except only a weak energy source for the decay period of our case study. Dissipation of kinetic energy, computed as a residual, has local maxima both in the lower troposphere and near the jet stream level. By investigating the relative importance of divergent and non-divergent components in the kinetic energy budget we found that when calculating the magnitude of the kinetic energy one may safely replace the total wind with the non-divergent one. But the horizontal flux convergence of kinetic energy and the generation of kinetic energy are sensitive to the magnitude of the divergent wind.
A large increase in the kinetic energy of the total flow fields and the nondivergent component of the flows occurs over the southeastern Mediterranean with the existence of the subtropical jet. This indicates that the subtropical jet steadily receives energy from divergent flow. Maximum energy conversion and transport occur near the time of maximum storm intensity while smaller values are observed during the development and decay stages.
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Received July 2, 1998/Revised December 28, 1998
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Abdel Wahab, M., Abdel Basset, H. Energy Exchanges for Mediterranean Weather Systems. Meteorol Atmos Phys 73, 1–23 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007030050060
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007030050060