A General Systems Theory for Atmospheric Flows and Atmospheric Aerosol Size Distribution

TL;DR

This paper presents a general systems theory linking atmospheric flow fractal fluctuations, aerosol size distribution, and quantumlike chaos, supported by empirical data and universal inverse power law predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a unified model predicting atmospheric fractal fluctuations and aerosol spectra based on selforganised criticality and quantumlike chaos, validated with real atmospheric data.

Findings

Fractal fluctuations follow a universal inverse power law incorporating the golden mean.

Aerosol size spectrum derived from the eddy energy spectrum matches observed data.

Atmospheric aerosols are maintained by a vertical velocity distribution consistent with the model.

Abstract

Atmospheric flows exhibit selfsimilar fractal spacetime fluctuations manifested as the fractal geometry to global cloud cover pattern and inverse power law form for power spectra of meteorological parameters such as windspeed, temperature, rainfall etc. Inverse power law form for power spectra indicate long-range spacetime correlations or non-local connections and is a signature of selforganised criticality generic to dynamical systems in nature such as river flows, population dynamics, heart beat patterns etc. The author has developed a general systems theory which predicts the observed selforganised criticality as a signature of quantumlike chaos in dynamical systems. The model predictions are (i) The fractal fluctuations can be resolved into an overall logarithmic spiral trajectory with the quasiperiodic Penrose tiling pattern for the internal structure. (ii) The probability distribution represents the power (variance) spectrum for fractal fluctuations and follows universal inverse power law form incorporating the golden mean. Such a result that the additive amplitudes of eddies when squared represent probability distribution is observed in the subatomic dynamics of quantum systems such as the electron or photon. Therefore the irregular or unpredictable fractal fluctuations exhibit quantumlike chaos. (iii) Atmospheric aerosols are held in suspension by the vertical velocity distribution (spectrum). The atmospheric aerosol size spectrum is derived in terms of the universal inverse power law characterizing atmospheric eddy energy spectrum. Model predicted spectrum is in agreement with the following two experimentally determined atmospheric aerosol data sets, (i) SAFARI 2000 CV-580 Aerosol Data, Dry Season 2000 (CARG) (ii) World Data Centre Aerosols data sets for the three stations Ny {\AA}lesund, Pallas and Hohenpeissenberg.