Some Statistics on the Magnitude of the Ageostrophic Wind

On the basis of wind speeds and accelerations derived from U.S. Navy sponsored 300-mb. constant level balloon or transosonde flights made during 1953, 1955, and 1956, statistics are presented on the magnitude of the ageostrophic wind and its variation with latitude and wind speed. These qtatistics indicate that at 300 mb. the average angle between wind and geostrophic wind is 11 degrees ,and the mean magnitude of the vector deviation between wind and geostrophic wind is 12 m. see.-'. The data also show that, through the use of the geostrophic and gradient wind approximations, half the time errors greater than 29 percent and 11 percent, respectively, are introduced into the derived results.