EQUATORIAL SOLITARY WAVES OF TROPICAL ATMOSPHERIC MOTION IN SHEAR FLOW

Starting from the primary equations, the author derives the KdV equation which describes solitary Rossby waves in the tropical atmosphere, and indicates that, because these waves are ageostrophic, they differ from the quasigeostrophic solitary Rossby waves studied by Redekopp et al. Owing to nonlinear action, these waves are also different from traditional linear waves of the tropical atmosphere. The author believes that the stationary tropical atmospheric waves reflect the characteristics of solitary waves in that the energy does not disperse.