Tropical response to lateral forcing with a latitudinally and zonally nonuniform basic state

The dynamics of lateral forcing of a stable tropical atmosphere by incident waves from the midlatitudes are examined. Attention is focused on conditions where the WKB method is invalid, and only given to barotropic flows. The tropical atmosphere is treated as a steady planetary wave and a zonal shear flow. The 200 mb level is investigated in terms of a midlatitude wave with self-compatible parametric values that is constrained to satisfy the radiation conditions at the boundary. Wave modes are found to be susceptible to trapping between two turning points in the equatorial zone in the presence of a zonal shear flow. Quasi-resonant waves can then appear over a wide range of parametric conditions of the forcing wave and the basic state. The zonal wind structure determines the resonance conditions.