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Use eastward $x$, northward $y$, pressure coordinate $p$ increasing downward, and geopotential $\Phi =gz$. Horizontal derivatives are taken on an isobaric surface. The horizontal geostrophic balance and vertical hydrostatic balance arewhere $R$ is the specific gas constant of dry air and the final equality uses the ideal gas law. At fixed latitude $f$ is independent of $p$. Cross-differentiating givesConsequently the pressure-coordinate thermal wind equations areEquivalently, $f{\mathbf{e}}_z\times {\partial }_{\ln p}{\mathbf{u}}_g=R{\nabla }_{p}T$. Notice the sign: increasing eastward velocity upward means decreasing eastward velocity with $\ln p$, and hence poleward-decreasing temperature in the Northern Hemisphere.

For the stratospheric polar vortex estimate, the original diagram must be read on its logarithmic pressure axis. Near $60^{\circ }$ in the winter hemisphere, adjacent $10\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ wind contours suggest an increase of roughly $20\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ through a pressure decade surrounding $10\mathrm{mb}$: for example, about $10\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ near $30\mathrm{mb}$ and $30\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ near $3\mathrm{mb}$. These are coarse graphical readings, not a sounding. ThusWith $|f|=2\Omega \sin 60^{\circ }\simeq 1.26\times 10^{-4}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ and $R\simeq 287\mathrm{J}\mathrm{k}{\mathrm{g}}^{-1}{\mathrm{K}}^{-1}$, the poleward temperature gradient is approximatelyIf the vortex edge is taken to span roughly $50^{\circ }$ to $70^{\circ }$, its width is $a(20\pi /180)\simeq 2.2\times 10^6\mathrm{m}$, givingThe estimate depends on the width assigned to the edge and the graphical vertical shear; a range of several to roughly fifteen kelvin is more justified than a precise value. The sign remains a cold winter pole in either hemisphere. The diagram does not by itself prescribe a unique pair of edge latitudes.

At low latitudes, horizontal free-atmospheric temperature gradients are usually much smaller than at the winter vortex edge. For a comparable finite wind vertical shear, the rearranged thermal-wind balance, $T_y=(f/R)u_{\ln p}$, is consistent with weaker temperature gradients as $|f|$ decreases. However, geostrophic balance loses validity near the equator because the Coriolis parameter vanishes; division by $f$ cannot be used there to derive a prediction. The weak temperature gradient approximation is better motivated by rapid horizontal internal gravity wave adjustment, together with tropical convection and the Hadley cell. Thermal-wind balance describes the balanced extratropical relation and its tendency approaching the tropics; it is not a complete causal explanation of equatorial thermal uniformity.

Take $x$ eastward, $y$ northward and $z$ upward. In a rotating reference frame, the horizontal Cauchy momentum equation isHere ${\mathbf{F}}_h$ represents other accelerations, such as friction, and $f$ is the Coriolis parameter. When the Rossby number $U/(|f|L)$ and the ratio $1/(|f|\tau )$ are small, and friction is weak, both advective and local acceleration can be neglected. The Coriolis force then balances the pressure gradient force: this is geostrophic balance, with $fv=p_x/\rho$ and $fu=-p_y/\rho$. The geostrophic wind runs along atmospheric isobars, with low pressure on its left in the northern hemisphere.

A rapid change of pressure need not bring the corresponding geostrophic wind into existence at once. An initially weak wind therefore leaves an inward pressure gradient force around the new low. For a smoothed anomaly of horizontal scale $L=5\times 10^5\mathrm{m}$, geostrophic balance would requireFor the illustrative midlatitude value $|f|=10^{-4}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, the implied Rossby number is already about $0.67$, so curved-flow acceleration matters. With a small tropical value $|f|=10^{-5}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$, the inferred speed is $333\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ and the Rossby number about $67$: the assumed geostrophic balance is untenable. Geostrophic adjustment redistributes the anomaly and emits internal gravity waves, leaving a weaker balanced component.

For a target speed $U_{\ast }=10\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ on the same scale, the required scale estimate isThus $6\mathrm{hPa}$, or $0.30$ of the initial magnitude, is the midlatitude estimate; at the illustrative tropical $|f|=10^{-5}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ it is $0.6\mathrm{hPa}$, or $0.030$ of the initial magnitude. The paper gives no latitude, so there is no unique numerical reduction. At the equator itself one must use equatorial dynamics rather than divide by $f=0$. Even the tropical $10\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ estimate has Rossby number $2$, so it describes the scale permitted by the stated balance, rather than a controlled tropical geostrophic balance.

There are two qualifications to “unstable”. A literal top-hat pressure anomaly has a discontinuous edge, where no finite classical geostrophic wind can balance its distributional pressure gradient. The $500\mathrm{km}$ estimate assumes a smoothed edge; a thinner edge requires stronger winds. More generally a large low is not, by its amplitude alone, proved to have an exponentially growing instability. For a concrete counterexample to the claim that such an amplitude cannot be stationary, set $p\prime (s)=-P\exp (-s^2/a^2)$, with cylindrical radius $s$, constant $\rho$ and $f>0$. The cyclonic gradient windis real and satisfies $v_{\theta }^2/s+f{v}_{\theta }=p_s/\rho$ for every $P>0$, with a regular limit at the centre. This is a stationary axisymmetric flow; no claim about its perturbation stability is needed. Here the physically justified conclusion is that a rapidly imposed anomaly without its balancing wind is unbalanced.

Small tropical Coriolis parameter allows only weak horizontal pressure gradients to coexist with ordinary large-scale winds. Hydrostatic balance connects the vertical variation of these pressure gradients to horizontal temperature gradients; equivalently the approximate thermal wind relation gives $f{u}_z\simeq -(g/T)T_y$. For comparable vertical wind shear, small $|f|$ means smaller $|T_y|$. Internal gravity waves can spread heating-induced buoyancy anomalies efficiently before rotation arrests the adjustment. This motivates the weak temperature gradient approximation for the tropical free troposphere; it does not require the land surface or atmospheric boundary layer to have uniform temperature.