Mechoso, C. R., 1980: The atmospheric circulation around Antarctica: Linear stability and finite-amplitude interactions with migrating cyclones. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 37 (10), 2209-2233.
Abstract: Available observations of the atmospheric circulation over the coast of
Antarctica indicate the presence of a core of westerly winds in the upper
troposphere. The linear stability of these westerlies is studied by using
a semi-spectral numerical model with which the linearized, shallow, anelastic
hydrostatic equations are integrated. The influence on the stability of
the westerlies of both the slope and amplitude of the topography representative
of East Antarctica is analyzed. The results obtained for several basic flows
taken as idealizations of possible mean states indicate that although the
topography exerts a somewhat stabilizing influence, the doubling times for
the unstable perturbations are less than two days in all cases.
It is shown by using a three-level primitive equation model that the combined
action of finite-amplitude baroclinic waves migrating from middle latitudes,
the topography of Antarctica, and the meridional temperature gradients around
the continent can generate westerlies with a jetlike structure over the
topographic slopes. Furthermore, none of those mechanisms acting separately
can generate such a jet.
The results suggest that the region around Antarctica, far from being a
place where all baroclinic processes are damped out by topographic slopes,
is baroclinically very active with a complicated energy cascade, and that
the distinctive topographic characteristics of Antarctica are fundamental
to the permanence of low temperatures in its overlying atmosphere.