Thermal wind

The thermal wind is not actually a wind, but a wind difference between two pressure levels
p1
and
p0
, with
p1 < p0
. It is only present in an atmosphere with horizontal gradients of temperature, i.e. baroclinicity.

Thermal Wind
It is a theoretical wind that blows parallel to the thickness lines, for the layer considered, analogous to how the geostrophic wind blows parallel to the height contours.

thermal wind"The mean wind-shear vector in geostrophic balance with the gradient of mean temperature of a layer bounded by two isobaric surfaces.

Thermal wind A component of geostrophic wind that arises from a horizontal air temperature gradient.
Thermograph A recording instrument that provides a continuous trace of temperature variations with time.

The Thermal Wind
A "thermal wind" sounds as if it should be a wind caused by heat, but it is not. In addition to the variations of pressure over a level surface, there may also be variations of temperature.

Thickness is also important because it gives rise to the concept of the "thermal wind" (the thermal wind itself does not exist in the atmosphere).

Q-Vectors: Like the thermal wind, these are not physical realities (they do not exist). However, they arise mathematically from the Omega Equation and they help explain the results of physical processes in the atmosphere.

To make their prediction, the meteorologists primarily used surface observations and what is known in meteorology as the thermal wind.

POSITIVE ISOTHERMAL VORTICITY ADVECTION (PIVA)- Advection of higher values of vorticity by the thermal wind on a map of vorticity and thickness contours. Implies an area of rising motion.

If the wind is geostrophic, the vertical shear is given by the thermal wind equation.

See also: Thermal, Air, Atmosphere, Wind, Pressure