This study revises three different methods of calculating the kinematic variables that appear in the analysis of a quasi horizontal wind field: horizontal divergence, vertical vorticity and deformation using observations at irregularly spaced points. The motivation for this study was the increasing number of field experiments in South America when special upper air observations are made. Some upper air data measured in the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonas / Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (LBA / TRMM) during January 24 / February 24 1999 were used to illustrate the methods. The methods are the formal integral definitions of the kinematic quantities based on the fundamental theorems of Vector Calculus, the matrix method based on the decomposition theorem due to Cauchy e Stokes and, finally the least minimum method. The horizontal divergence was chosen as input data to generate vertical profiles of vertical motion w via the kinematic method. The values of w or order of 10 cm s-1 are consistent with those estimated from an rough scale analysis appropriated for horizontal scales of order of 100 km. It is emphasized that no particular meteorological problem is addressed to.
horizontal divergence; vertical motion; LBA/ TRMM
