baroclinic instability

Ahydrodynamic instability arising from the existence of a meridional temperature gradient (and hence of a thermal wind) in an atmosphere in quasi-geostrophic equilibrium and possessing static stability.

Related terms:

• absolute instability
• convective instability
• baroclinic disturbance
• instability line
• autoconvective instability
• mechanical instability
• potential instability
• conditional instability
• baroclinic model
• latent instability