Thermal wind

Thermal wind is the vertical change in geostrophic wind associated with horizontal temperature gradients in a rotating atmosphere. It is a shear relationship, not a separate wind.

Geostrophic wind: The flow that results when the pressure-gradient force balances the Coriolis force. Thermal wind describes how this balanced flow changes with height.
Jet stream: A narrow band of strong winds in the upper troposphere or lower stratosphere. Strong horizontal temperature contrasts help create the vertical shear supporting upper-level jets.
Pressure gradient force: The force per unit mass arising from spatial differences in pressure within a fluid. It balances Coriolis acceleration in the geostrophic flow whose shear thermal wind describes.
Ageostrophic wind: The component of wind that differs from geostrophic balance. Thermal-wind balance concerns geostrophic shear, while ageostrophic flow departs from that balance.
Hydrostatic equilibrium: The balance between vertical pressure-gradient force and gravity in a fluid at rest or in large-scale motion. Combined with geostrophic balance, it yields the thermal-wind relation.
Atmospheric front: A boundary separating air masses with contrasting temperature and density. The sharp temperature gradient across a front implies strong thermal-wind shear.
Coriolis parameter: A latitude-dependent measure of the strength of the Coriolis effect in planetary rotation. It sets the magnitude of geostrophic shear for a given temperature gradient.
Gradient wind: A curved-flow balance among pressure-gradient, Coriolis, and centrifugal forces. It accounts for curvature that the basic geostrophic formulation neglects.
Coriolis force: The apparent force in a rotating reference frame that deflects moving objects relative to that frame. It makes horizontal temperature gradients correspond to changes in geostrophic wind.
Polar vortex: A large-scale cyclonic circulation surrounding a planet's polar region, especially in winter. Its vertical wind structure reflects the temperature contrast between polar and lower latitudes.

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