Planetary Atmospheres as Non-Equilibrium Condensed Matter

Abstract

Planetary atmospheres, and models of them, are discussed from the viewpoint of condensed matter physics. Atmospheres are a form of condensed matter, and many interesting phenomena of condensed matter systems are realized by them. The essential physics of the general circulation is illustrated with idealized 2-layer and 1-layer models of the atmosphere. Equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics are used to directly ascertain the statistics of these models.

23 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics (2012). Rhines scale (Eq. 25) corrected, one reference moved, and updates to other citations

References in corpus (12)

• Growing condensate in two-dimensional turbulence
• New Phases of Water Ice Predicted at Megabar Pressures
• Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics via Direct Statistical Simulation
• A discussion on maximum entropy production and information theory
• Solvable phase diagrams and ensemble inequivalence for two-dimensional and geophysical turbulent flows
• Turbulence damping as a measure of the flow dimensionality
• Statistical mechanics of two-dimensional Euler flows and minimum enstrophy states
• Statistics of the General Circulation from Cumulant Expansions
• Invariant measures of the 2D Euler and Vlasov equations
• Oceanic rings and jets as statistical equilibrium states
• Rotating Shallow Water Dynamics: Extra Invariant and the Formation of Zonal Jets
• Comment on an information theoretic approach to the study of non-equilibrium steady states

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Topological Origin of Equatorial Waves
• Direct Statistical Simulation of Out-of-Equilibrium Jets
• Emergence of large scale structure in planetary turbulence
• Recent Developments in Theories of Inhomogeneous and Anisotropic Turbulence
• Statistical simulation of the magnetorotational dynamo
• A theory for the emergence of coherent structures in beta-plane turbulence
• Hyperviscosity and statistical equilibria of Euler turbulence on the torus and the sphere
• Cumulant expansions for atmospheric flows
• Statistical state dynamics of jet/wave coexistence in barotropic beta-plane turbulence
• S3T stability of the homogeneous state of barotropic beta-plane turbulence
• Dimensional Reduction of Direct Statistical Simulation
• Linearly forced fluid flow on a rotating sphere
• Field-theoretic analysis of directed percolation: Three-loop approximation
• Ribbon Turbulence
• Vertically Sheared Horizontal Flow-Forming Instability in Stratified Turbulence: Analytical Linear Stability Analysis of Statistical State Dynamics Equilibria
• Coarse-graining two-dimensional turbulence via dynamical optimization
• Direct Statistical Simulation of a Jet
• Field-theoretic Analysis of Dynamic Isotropic Percolation: Three-loop Approximation