Paper detail

On the concept of exergy and available enthalpy: Application to atmospheric energetics

The available enthalpy is an early form of the modern thermodynamic concept of exergy, which is the generic name for the amount of work obtainable when some matter is brought to a state of equilibrium with its surroundings by means of reversible processes. It is shown in this paper that a study of the hydrodynamic properties of available enthalpy leads to a generalization of the global meteorological available energies previously introduced by Lorenz, Dutton and Pearce. A local energy cycle is derived without approximation. Moreover, static instabilities or topography do not prevent this theory from having practical applications. The concept of available enthalpy is also presented in terms of the potential change in total entropy. Using the hydrostatic assumption, limited-area energetics is then rigorously defined, including new boundary fluxes and new energy components. This innovative approach is especially suitable for the study of energy conversions between isobaric layers of an open limited atmospheric domain. Numerical evaluations of various energy components are presented for a hemispheric field of zonal-average temperature. It is further shown that this new energetic scheme realizes a hierarchical partition of the components so that the smallest of those available enthalpy reservoirs are almost of the same magnitude as the kinetic energy. This is actually the fundamental property that induced Margules to define the primary concept of available kinetic energy in meteorology.