understanding atmospheric behaviour in terms of entropy a review of applications of the second law of thermodynamics to meteorology理解大气行为而言,熵的热力学第二定律的应用气象学.pdf

Entropy 2011, 13, 211-240; doi:10.3390/ OPEN ACCESS entropy ISSN 1099-4300 /journal/entropy Review Understanding Atmospheric Behaviour in Terms of Entropy: A Review of Applications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics to Meteorology Ying Liu *, Chongjian Liu and Donghai Wang State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; E-Mails: cliu@ (C.L); wangdh@ (D.W.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: y119@. Received: 19 December 2010; in revised form: 3 January 2011 / Accepted: 15 January 2011 / Published: 19 January 2011 Abstract: The concept of entropy and its relevant principles, mainly the principle of maximum entropy production (MEP), the effect of negative entropy flow (NEF) on the organization of atmospheric systems and the principle of the Second Law of thermodynamics, as well as their applications to atmospheric sciences, are reviewed. Some formulations of sub-grid processes such as diffusion parameterization schemes in computational geophysical fluid dynamics that can be improved based on full-irreversibility are also discussed, although they have not yet been systematically subjected to scrutiny from the perspective of the entropy budgets. A comparative investigation shows that the principle of MEP applies to the entropy production o