On the power law for the kinetic energy spectrum of large scale atmospheric flow

The evidence from observational calculations and a numerical simulation experiment point to the dominance of the baroclinic process over the non-linear cascade of kinetic energy in the spectral range 7 ≤ m ≤ 15 in atmospheric flow (m is the wavenumber). It is therefore suggested that the power law governing this portion of the kinetic energy spectrum be derived using C_i, the imaginary part of the phase speed commonly used in studies of baroclinic instability. Evidence is presented to support this view.