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The formation of internal bores in the atmosphere: A laboratory model
Author(s) -
Rottman James W.,
Simpson John E.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49711548809
Subject(s) - internal wave , gravity current , geology , atmosphere (unit) , thunderstorm , inversion (geology) , meteorology , cold front , gravity wave , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , gravitational wave , physics , oceanography , seismology , astrophysics , tectonics
Recently several atmospheric observations have been interpreted as internal undular bores or internal solitary waves evolving from internal bores that propagate along low‐level temperature inversions. It has been speculated that such disturbances are generated by some type of gravity current (such as cold fronts, sea breeze fronts and thunderstorm outflows) interacting with an existing temperature inversion. In this paper we describe a systematic laboratory study in a water channel, of internal bores and their generation by the movement of gravity currents through a two‐layer model of the atmosphere. We compare the results of our laboratory experiments with previous theories and numerical simulations and with several detailed atmospheric observations of internal bores at different stages of development.