A physical basis for a maximum of thermodynamic dissipation of the climate system

✍ Scribed by Garth W. Paltridge

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 617 KB
• Volume: 127
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49712757203

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A mechanism is proposed by which the energy flow through a turbulent medium might be constrained to maximize its dissipation or (equivalently) its thermodynamic efficiency. The mechanism may provide a physical basis for the various findings over the years that the earth‐atmosphere system has adopted a format which maximizes its overall rate of entropy production. The qualitative picture is of a system which, because of the asymmetry of its turbulent fluctuations about the locus of possible steady states determined by energy balance, moves to a preferred steady state and therefore to a preferred turbulent transfer coefficient.