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Does kinematic advection by superimposed waves provide an explanation for quasi‐universal gravity‐wave spectra?
Author(s) -
Klaassen G. P.,
Sonmor L. J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl027388
Subject(s) - advection , gravity wave , superposition principle , physics , amplitude , wavenumber , eulerian path , kinematics , atmospheric wave , gravitational wave , classical mechanics , spectral line , standing wave , mechanics , wave propagation , lagrangian , optics , astrophysics , quantum mechanics , mathematical physics
Earlier work has indicated that kinematic advection associated with a linear superposition of standing sinusoidal Lagrangian gravity waves generates, at sufficiently high amplitudes, nonsinusoidal Eulerian perturbations and broadened vertical wavenumber spectra. We find that those same Lagrangian waves also produce singularities in the Eulerian fields. Even at the lowest wave amplitudes consistent with observations of saturated atmospheric waves, we find that kinematic parcel compressions are still far too large compared to adiabatic constraints, while the spectral broadening is far weaker than that indicated by atmospheric measurements. These results demonstrate that kinematic advection by linear Lagrangian waves cannot provide a suitable basis for understanding at least some saturated wave spectra.