In atmospheric science, balanced flow is an idealisation of atmospheric motion. The idealisation consists in considering the behaviour of one isolated parcel of air having constant density, its motion on a horizontal plane subject to selected forces acting on it and, finally, steady-state conditions.
Balanced flow is often an accurate approximation of the actual flow, and is useful in improving the qualitative understanding and interpretation of atmospheric motion. In particular, the balanced-flow speeds can be used as estimates of the wind speed for particular arrangements of the atmospheric pressure on Earth’s surface.
Read more about Balanced Flow: Antitriptic Flow, Geostrophic Flow, Cyclostrophic Flow, Inertial Flow, Gradient Flow, Balanced-flow Speeds Compared
Famous quotes containing the words balanced and/or flow:
“I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Opinionated writing is always the most difficult ... simply because it involves retaining in the cold morning-after crystal of the printed word the burning flow of molten feeling.”
—Gavin Lyall (b. 1932)