Dines compensation is a demonstration of conservation of mass under the weak constraint that the height of the atmosphere is approximately the same anywhere on Earth.
Mathematically it may be stated that the sign of the horizontal divergence changes at least once in any given column of air.
For instance, it is not uncommon to see high altitude anticyclonic cirrus outflow from a hurricane in visible satellite imagery which is compensating for the inbound winds at sea level.
Dines compensation is useful in weather forecasting to connect the formation and movement of ground-level high and low pressure zones with wind phenomenon in the upper troposphere such as Rossby waves and jet streams.
[2] In general Dines compensation ties together vertical and horizontal air movements in the atmosphere.