Abstract
A flow where the pressure gradient, Coriolis and viscous forces are balanced is examined. It is found that such a flow is a reasonable approximation to the “steady state” flow in the vicinity of the contact layer. Kinematic effects implicit in the adjustment of an arbitrary flow to this balanced state are examined and can be used to explain several features of the nocturnal low-level jet. A method to use this balanced flow operationally to infer Ekman layer features is developed and several cases are examined.
