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Abstract The forcing of stationary wave motion by tropical diabatic heating is examined using idealized models. A steady, linear, primitive equation model is used to study both the extratropical and the tropical response to tropical forcing. In the former case an isolated region of heating may excite a wavetrain with a substantial poleward direction of propagation. The sensitivity of this response is discussed. The tropical response is largely in agreement with a simpler model proposed by Gill, but some significant modifications due to the presence of a zonal‐mean flow and more detailed vertical structure are found. Specifying the tropical forcing by means of a relaxation towards climatology results in a large extratropical response. Barotropic experiments are discussed in which an isolated tropical forcing is superimposed on a constant forcing which maintains a climatological basic flow with zonal variation. In these cases a large response is found in the North Pacific region, particularly when the forcing is located to the south of the region of strongest flow. Non‐linearity amplifies or damps this response depending on the sign of the forcing. Maintenance of a region of tropical westerly wind of limited zonal extent results in a substantial cross‐equatorial propagation.
A. J. Simmons (Thu,) studied this question.