ABSTRACT
The ‘tropical atmosphere’ seems to have achieved considerable fame as a distinctive entity more as a result of its statistical obscurity than on account of any real appreciations of its climatology. The majority of the more traditional definitions of the tropical atmosphere fall into two general groups: geographical and meteorological. Satellite studies are important firstly in that they have shown the distinction between the two to be even more marked than was previously thought. Satellite radiation data have indicated that earlier estimates of cloud cover, and therefore of albedo, were too high. Many empirical studies have affirmed the particular dominance of condensation within the tropical atmosphere. They have revealed that the mean temperature lapse rate of the Tropics is nearly identical to the vertical profile obtained from parcel ascent of air of average temperature and moisture at the earth’s surface. The wider implications of highly significant embroideries upon the classical circulation in the Tropics are worth investigating.
