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Ralph D. Lorenz

Maximum Frictional Dissipation and the Information Entropy of Windspeeds

A link is developed between the work that thermally-driven winds are capable of performing and the entropy of the windspeed history: this information entropy is minimized when the minimum work required to transport the heat by wind is dissipated. When the system is less constrained, the information entropy of the windspeed record increases as the windspeed fluctuates to dissipate its available work. Fluctuating windspeeds are a means for the system to adjust to a peak in entropy production.

Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0340-0204
Volume: 27, 09/2002
Pages: 229 - 238

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