Summary of Løyning & Weber JGR 1997
Infinitesimal perturbations can trigger thermobaric instability. This is shown by classical linear stability analysis applied to Boussinesq type equations with expansion in d/Ha where d is layer thickness, as well as from nonlinear 2D equations.
Thermobaric convection, i.e. when thermobaricity is the sole cause of convection, asDT < bDS < (as + a1d) DT, gives asymmetric cells with stronger circulation in the lower part. This is shown from linear approximation and from numerical solution of nonlinear equations.
(Weber & Løyning 2000 Techn. Rept. Univ. Oslo: ”Thermobaric effect on symmetric instability” show that thermobaricity destabilises stratified, geostrophic flows. Small-amplitude rolls have centers of circulation which are shifted towards the lower part of the fluid layer).