Large-scale Inhomogeneous Thermodynamics
--And applications for atmospheric energetics
Yong Zhu
ISBN
1-898326-31-2, 620pp
Cambridge International Scientific Publishing, 2002
Contents
Introduction
The new
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There are the large-scale fluid systems in the gravity field, such as the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, which manifest some features different from those of classical thermodynamic systems. For example, the oceans and atmosphere possess the inhomogeneous multi-equilibrium states with equal amounts of mass and energy; the zeroth law of classical thermodynamics cannot be applied for the inhomogeneous thermodynamic systems, and the irreversible variations may not be explained only by the change of classical thermodynamic entropy. It is longed long for us to have a new theory to study the particular thermodynamic systems. This book introduces a new science called the large-scale inhomogeneous thermodynamics to study the inhomogeneous thermodynamic systems.
This
book
introduces a new physics dealing with the large-scale thermodynamic systems of
which the equilibrium states are inhomogeneous. Some well-known consequences
resulting from the statistical thermodynamics may also be obtained simply from
the new theory, since the statistical therm-odynamics may be viewed as the
microscopic inhomogeneous therm-odynamics. Examples of large-scale inhomogeneous
thermodynamic systems are the atmosphere and oceans on the Earth. This new
theory can be used to calculate the kinetic energy sources in the dry and moist
atmospheres. The geographic distributions of the major energy sources are
correlated with the distributions of storm tracks, heavy precipitations and
tropical cyclones. The energy generation in a weather system can be estimated by
the air engine theory forwarded. Some examples using the new thermodynamic
theory to forecast the development and movement of tropical and extratropical
cyclones are discussed in the book. The predictability and chaos of large-scale
circulations are also investigated according to the features of atmospheric
turbulence.