Breakdown of vertically propagating two-dimensional gravity waves forced by orography

J. T. Bacmeister, M. R. Schoeberl

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

The propagation of orographic gravity waves into an atmosphere with exponentially decreasing density is simulated with a two-dimensional, nonlinear, time-dependent numerical model. After the stationary wave is established over the mountain, the model predicts that wave breaking causes a large reduction of the vertical momentum flux in the flow, not only at levels where wave breaking is present, but also far below the lowest occurrence of overturning. More than half of the decrease in momentum flux is explained by the presence of large amplitude, downward propagating waves, which are generated in regions of wave breaking. -from Authors

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2109-2134
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Volume46
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 1989

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