Articles | Volume 27, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-27-147-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-27-147-2020
Review article
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03 Apr 2020
Review article | Highlight paper |  | 03 Apr 2020

Baroclinic and barotropic instabilities in planetary atmospheres: energetics, equilibration and adjustment

Peter Read, Daniel Kennedy, Neil Lewis, Hélène Scolan, Fachreddin Tabataba-Vakili, Yixiong Wang, Susie Wright, and Roland Young

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AR by Anna Wenzel on behalf of the Authors (17 Feb 2020)  Author's response    Manuscript
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (18 Feb 2020) by Olivier Talagrand
RR by Geoff Vallis (24 Feb 2020)
ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (26 Feb 2020) by Olivier Talagrand
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Short summary
Baroclinic and barotropic instabilities are well known as the processes responsible for the production of the most important energy-containing eddies in the atmospheres and oceans of Earth and other planets. Linear and nonlinear instability theories provide insights into when such instabilities may occur, grow to a large amplitude and saturate, with examples from the laboratory, simplified numerical models and planetary atmospheres. We conclude with a number of open issues for future research.