A barotropic fluid is a fluid in which the pressure is constant on surfaces of equal density. Although this condition is unlikely to occur under turbulent conditions, this is a widely used approximation in fluid dynamics, meteorology and climatology, as it simplifies the handling of many phenomena, yielding qualitatively and quantitatively acceptable results. Often its meaning is extended to indicate a homogeneous fluid with constant density. The concept is used in contrast to the term baroclino, which instead designates a fluid in which the pressure depends on density and temperature. Another way to define this particular type of fluid is to say that the pressure gradient and the density gradient are parallel (may also not be equated). This formulation makes immediate the importance of such fluids: from the whitewash equation it is noted that under this assumption the variation of whirling depends solely on the speed gradients in the stream. Barotropic model of the atmospheric wikitesto modification

An example where it is evident that the simplification of motions in barotropic approximation is the barotropic pattern of the atmosphere. In this model, isobaric surfaces coincide with isothermal surfaces. So the geostrophic wind is independent of the height, and the motions only depend on the horizontal position. This model provides acceptable estimates for large-scale motions. Notemodify wikitesto Bibliografiamodifica wikitesto

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