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Which fraction of the total potential energy is available?

  • A.Essentially all of it, because any horizontal temperature gradient could in principle be entirely removed
  • B.About half of one per cent
  • C.About half, since the atmosphere is close to the point at which convection would begin throughout the column
  • D.About ten per cent

Answer: B

Lorenz showed the available portion to be around 0.5 per cent of the total, because most of the mass is already close to its lowest attainable arrangement. Even that small fraction is about ten times the kinetic energy of the general circulation. The calculation corrects the intuition that a large reservoir must imply a large usable supply.

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