Abstract: A nonlinear steady-state, baroclinic, primitive equation, three-dimensional spectral model, in which Newtonian cooling, Rayleigh friction and biharmonic diffusion are included, is used to investigate the effects of idealized and actual topography on the planetary scale, forced stationary waves in Northern winter.Computational results confinn the qualitative analysis of numerical experiments in terms of associated linear model, meanwhile significant differences between linear and nonlinear solution are also found, especially where the basic flow is relatively weak. It is shown that the high-and mid-latitude response of the model atmosphere to Northern Hemisphere topography is dominated by zonal wavenumber two, but for the low latitude response at the upper troposphere the component for wavenumber three is evident. The mid-and high-latitude orographic forcing makes a substantial contribution to the maintenance of the cyclonic circulation over the eastern tropical and sub-tropical Pacific as well as the inverse circulation over the western Pacific in the upper troposphere.