A comment on the geostrophic wind divergence

V VH V, = -2 (tan # + cot $1, r where VH is the horizontal divergence, V = (ug, ve) the geostrophic wind vector, r the distance from the earth’s centre and @ the latitude. Although the two terms on the right-hand side of (1) appear as a result of the earth’s sphericity, it is suggested from what follows that the tan@ term is superfluous and should be omitted. The horizontal wind divergence on a spherical surface was given by Pedlosky (1979) as I 1 a r c o s @ { i i a@ V H v = + -(v cos @)