Critical phenomena in atmospheric precipitation
| dc.creator | Peters, Ole | |
| dc.creator | Neelin, J. David | |
| dc.date | 2006-06-02 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T07:12:24Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T07:12:24Z | |
| dc.description | Critical phenomena near continuous phase transitions are typically observed on the scale of wavelengths of visible light[1]. Here we report similar phenomena for atmospheric precipitation on scales of tens of kilometers. Our observations have important implications not only for meteorology but also for the interpretation of self-organized criticality (SOC) in terms of absorbing-state phase transitions, where feedback mechanisms between order- and tuning-parameter lead to criticality.[2] While numerically the corresponding phase transitions have been studied,[3, 4] we characterise for the first time a physical system believed to display SOC[5] in terms of its underlying phase transition. In meteorology the term quasi-equilibrium (QE)[6] refers to a state towards which the atmosphere is driven by slow large-scale processes and rapid convective buoyancy release. We present evidence here that QE, postulated two decades earlier than SOC[7], is associated with the critical point of a continuous phase transition and is thus an instance of SOC. | |
| dc.description | 5 pages, 3 figures | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0606076 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0606076 | |
| dc.identifier | Nature Physics 2, 393-396 (June 2006) | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.1038/nphys314 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/112069 | |
| dc.subject | Statistical Mechanics | |
| dc.title | Critical phenomena in atmospheric precipitation | |
| dc.type | text |