Abstract
In this paper an attempt is made to investigate the rate of dispersion of solitary, quasihorizontal atmospheric disturbances with the aid of a simple barotropic model of the atmosphere. In low latitudes the dispersion is found to be extremely rapid, in good agreement with the observed absence of all but the smallest solitary disturbances. In high latitudes the dispersion is slow, permitting the establishment of persistent solitary circulation patterns. The theory appears so throw some light on the geographic distribution of the interdiurnal variability in the height of the 500 mb surface and on the relatively frequent occurrence of planetary waves with a wave length of 120 longitude degrees.A fuller treatment is now being published by my associate, Dr. T. C. Yeh.
© 1949 C.-G. Rossby, published by Stockholm University Press
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