Modal view of atmospheric variability: applications of normal-mode function decomposition in weather and climate research

This book reviews the theory and applications of the normal-mode functions in numerical weather prediction and weather and climate dynamics. The normal-mode functions, the eigensolutions of the linearized primitive equations describing the evolution of atmospheric winds and mass variables, have been used for a long time. They have played an important role in the development of data assimilation schemes and the initialization of numerical weather prediction models. Chapters also present how the normal modes can be applied to many theoretical and numerical problems in the atmospheric sciences, such as equatorial wave dynamics, baroclinic instability, energy transfers, and predictability across scales.