Internal gravitation waves in a stably stratified atmosphere
Abstract
In a stably stratified boundary layer, the variances of wind and temperature mesurements are caused partly by waves and partly by turbulence. These two mechanisms have very different properties with respect to the transport of air pollutants; waves do not transport contaminants, whereas turbulence is an effective mixing mechanism. The variances in wind and temperature profiles due to waves and turbulence in a stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer (where waves and turbulence are present concurrently) were investigated. The effects of waves and turbulence were distinguished by solving the Taylor-Goldstein equation for measured wind and temperature profiles. Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities were found through numerical methods and in the calculated fluctuation spectra. Such instabilities explain the calculated variance profiles.
- Publication:
-
Unknown
- Pub Date:
- 1984
- Bibcode:
- 1984igws.rept.....D
- Keywords:
-
- Air Pollution;
- Atmospheric Boundary Layer;
- Atmospheric Models;
- Atmospheric Stratification;
- Atmospheric Turbulence;
- Gravitational Waves;
- Pollution Transport;
- Temperature Profiles;
- Transport Theory;
- Wind Profiles;
- Atmospheric Circulation;
- Boundary Value Problems;
- Contaminants;
- Fluctuation Theory;
- Internal Waves;
- Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability;
- Spectral Methods;
- Turbulent Mixing;
- Variations;
- Wind (Meteorology);
- Geophysics