VOL. 12, NO.

2 REVIEWS OF GEOPHYSICS AND SPACE PHYSICS MAY 1974

Acoustic-Gravity Waves in the Upper Atmosphere

K. C. YEH AND C. H. LIU

IonosphereRadio Laboratory, Departmentof Electrical Engineering

Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,Urbana, Illinois 61801

In this paper we review the theory of acoustic-gravitywaves,the interaction of suchwaveswith the

ionosphere,the experimentalsupport for the existenceof suchwavesin the upper atmosphere,and the
role played by acoustic-gravitywavesin thermosphericdynamics.After a thorough discussionon the
propertiesof acoustic-gravity wavesin an ideal isothermalatmosphere,the effectsproducedby horizon-
tal winds, sharp boundary discontinuities,and dissipativeprocessesare discussed.The generationof
thesewavesby stationaryor movingsourcesis then treated.It is shownthat the atmosphericresponseto
a stationaryimpulsesourcecan be describedby the emissionof three waves:acoustic,buoyancy,and
gravity.Thesediscussions are then followedby reviewingpropagationeffectsin a realisticatmospherefor
both free waves and guided waves. Recent numerical results are given. When acoustic-gravitywaves
propagatethroughthe ionosphere,interactionbetweenthe wave and the ionospherewill take place.The
physicalprocessesinvolved in such an interactionare examined.The responseof the ionosphereto
acoustic-gravity wavescan be fairly complex,but its understandingis necessary to interpretvariousex-
perimental data. The existing experimental data on traveling disturbancesare then reviewed. The ex-
istenceof acoustic-gravitywaves throughout the atmosphereimplies coupling betweenthe lower at-
mosphereand the upperatmosphere.Transportof both momentumand energyare accompaniedby the
wave process.The implication of momentum and energy transport on thermosphericdynamics is
discussed.

CONTENTS conditions this restoring force is responsiblefor atmospheric

Propagation and generation of acoustic-gravitywaves in an
isothermal atmosphere .............................
Dispersionrelation ..................................
Properties of internal waves ..........................
Effect of horizontally stratified winds ..................
Surfacewavessupportedby a temperaturediscontinuity
Reflection and refraction at a sharp boundary ..........
Attenuation due to loss processes .....................
Generation of acoustic-gravitywaves in an isothermal at-
mosphere ......................................
Propagationof acoustic-gravitywavesin a realisticatmosphere
Ray theory .........................................
Coupled equation formulation ........................
The WKB solution ..................................
Attenuation in a realistic atmosphere ..................
Guided acoustic-gravitymodes .......................
Interaction of internal waveswith the ionosphere .........
Wave-associateddynamic effect on the ionosphere ......
Wave-associatedtransport effect on the ionosphere .....
Wave-associatedphotochemicaleffect on the ionosphere
Interaction with a realisticionosphere .................
Experimental observations in the upper atmosphere and
ionosphere .......................................
Survey of experimental techniques ....................
Generation by impulse sources .......................
Generation by magnetic-storm-relatedevents ...........
Responseto seismicwaves ...........................
Propertiesof medium-scaletraveling disturbances .......
Short-period disturbances ............................
The role of acoustic-gravity waves in thermospheric
dynamics ......................................
Conclusion ...........................................
A. INTRODUCTION
The earth's atmosphere is capable of sustaining a large
number of wave phenomena. On the basis of human ex-
perience,the mostfamiliar wave processis the propagationof
sound. The role of gravity in modifying the propagation of
sound was investigated by Lamb [1908, 1910]. The at-
mosphericstratificationin the presenceof gravity givesriseto
a restoring force known as the buoyancy force. Under certain
Copyright(D 1974by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion.
oscillationsat a characteristicfrequencyknown variously as
194 the buoyancy frequency or the Brunt-VSis515 frequency
195
197
[Vi•isi•li•, 1925; Brunt, 1927]. When the wave frequency is
197 much higher than the buoyancyfrequency,as it is in the or-
198 dinary acousticwave, the gravitational effectscan be ignored.
199 As the frequencyis gradually lowered to a value comparable
199 to the buoyancy frequency, the potential energy associated
199 with the buoyancy force (known as thermobaric energy) may
201 have an order of magnitudethat is equal to the kinetic energy
201 and the elasticenergy of acoustics.When this is the case,the
203 wave is called the acoustic-gravitywave. Sincethe gravity acts
203
204
in one direction, the related wave processis expectedto be
204 highly anisotropic. The subject of the propagation of
205 acoustic-gravity waves has been pre.viously treated and
206 reviewed [Gossardand Munk, 1954; Eckart, 1960; Tolstoy,
206
1963]. There have been severalspecialsymposiumsand con-
207
207 ferenceson acoustic-gravitywaves, where interested readers
may find detailed information [Journal of Atmosphericand
207 Terrestrial Physics, 1968; Georges, 1968a; AGARD, 1972].
207
The existenceof acoustic-gravitywaves at thermospheric
208
208 and ionosphericheightsis inferred mainly by indirectground-
209 based measurementson ionization. As early as the 1920's,
209 communication engineers were already troubled by the
210 presenceof fadingin ionospherically
reflectedsignals[Mim-
210 no, 1937].Furtherexperimentation
showedat leastpartly that
211 the fading was causedby the focusingand defocusingof radio
waves by ionospheric ripples [Pierce and Mimno, 1940].
Munro [1950, 1958] and others [e.g., Toman, 1955; Heisler,
1958; Valverde,1958] made a systematicstudyof theseripples
and obtained direction and velocity of travel. Martyn [1950]
proposedto explain thesetraveling disturbancesin terms of
cellular atmospheric waves. Martyn's theory has since been
modified and developed by Hines [1960]. Hines proposed
acoustic-gravitywavesas the driving force of traveling distur-
bances.This proposal seemsto be most satisfactoryand is
accepted by most investigators in the field at present.
However, it should be cautioned that acoustic-gravitywaves
193
194 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES

are not the only wavesthat can be sustainedin the upper at-
mosphere.The neutralatmospherecan also supporttides 500
Nighttime,
Sunspot
-,•
with specificperiods[Siebert,1961;Dikii, 1965],whereasthe minimum-......•
•,•f / /
ionospherecan supporta variety of hydromagnetic and
plasmawaves[e.g.,Ratcliffe, 1959;Ginzburg,1970;Yehand 400

Liu, 1972a,b]. There are periodicreportsof exceptionalex-

perimentalobservations purportedto beunexplainable by the 300
acoustic-gravity theory [Heisler and Whitehead, 1961;
Greenhowand Neufeld, 1961; With 1962;Theonet al., 1967;
200
Herron, 1973];someof thesemay be real, but somemay be
complicatedby experimentaluncertainties.In some other
cases,a deeperexaminationof the experimentaldata hasun- I00

covered no inconsistencieswith the acoustic-gravity wave

hypothesis[Francis,1974].However,thebulkof experimental 0
data hasbeeninterpretedsuccessfully
by the acoustic-gravity 0 5 10 15 ZO Z5

wave theory [e.g., Gershmanand Grigor'ev, 1968; Vasseuret BUOYANCY PERIOD (rain}
al., 1972]. The strongestsupport seemsto be ionospheric Fig.2. Theverticalstructure
of thebuoyancyperiodcomputedby
observationsfollowingnucleardetonationsin the atmosphere usingequation2, whichappliesto a nonisothermal
atmosphere(solid
[Hines, 1967; Row, 1967]. lines), and equation3, which appliesonly to an isothermalat-
mosphere(dashedlines).The atmosphere
is the sameasthat usedin
In orderto studythe propagationof atmosphericwavesit is Figure 1.
desirable to know about the environment within which these
wavesare goingto propagate.The primary propertiesof the
1962].In thethermosphere
the speedof soundvariesdiurnally
atmosphereare its density,pressure,temperature,composi- and with solar activities.
tion, and motion.Thesepropertiesare highlyvariablein time
An atmosphere in hydrostaticequilibriumis,in general,in-
and in geographiclocation.To simplifythe discussion, it is
homogeneous in the verticaldirection.Let usapplyan exter-
customaryto makeuseof atmospheric models.In the follow-
nal forcethat displacesa smallparcelof air verticallyupward
ing, profilesof the speedof soundand the buoyancyfre- a smalldistancein suchan atmosphere.In its newpositionthe
quencyarecomputedfor certainmodelatmospheres. air parcelexperiencesthe buoyancyforce.Now if the external
The speedof soundCois givenby c0:= (dp/dp)aaiabatic.
For
force is removed,the air parcelwill oscillatewith an angular
an ideal gas, it reducesto
frequencycoogiven by [Viiisiilii, 1925;Brunt, 1927;Eckart,
c02= 'YP/t>-- 7Hg (1) 1960; Tolstoy, 1963]

where7 is the ratio of specificheatsandH is the scaleheight. coo:= (7 - 1)g:/Co:+ (g/Co:)dco:/dz (2)
By taking valuesgiven by the U.S. StandardAtmosphere provided that the atmosphereis stable. The characteristic
(1962)[Valley,1965]for heightsbelow100km andvaluesgiven frequencycoo isvariouslycalledthebuoyancyfrequencyor the
by Cira(1965)for heightsabove100km, thespeedof soundcan Brunt-Vfiisfil•ifrequency.If coo:,as given by (2), is negative,
becomputedasshownin Figure1.Note thepresence of sound theinitial perturbationwill growexponentially withtime,and
ductswherethespeedof soundis a minimum.The possibilities the atmosphere becomesunstable.The conditionfor marginal
of suchductsto serveas wave guidesof acousticenergyhave stability is coo:= 0 or
beendiscussed by severalauthors[e.g., Pfeifer and Zarichny,
dT/dz = -mg(7 - 1)/7K
which is just the lapserate of an isentropicatmosphere.
In an isothermal atmosphere with a constant mean
500 NIGHTTIME,
SUNSPOT
J / molecular mass,(2) reducesto
coo:= ('7 - 1)g:/co: (3)
400
In the terrestrialatmospherethe buoyancyperiod To = 2a'/coo
has the height structuregiven by Figure 2.
The purposeof this paper is to reviewvariousaspectsof
300
acoustic-gravitytheoriesand observationsin the upper at-
mosphere.The atmosphereis assumedto havecharacteristics
similar to thoseshownin Figures 1 and 2. Both propagation
200
andgenerationof acoustic-gravity wavesare discussed,firstin
/ • DAYTIME,
SUNSPOT an isothermalatmosphereand then in a realisticatmosphere.
When these wavespropagateupward into the ionosphere,
I00
ionization ripplesare createdthrough interactionprocesses.
Experimentalobservationsare reviewed, and the role of
acoustic-gravitywaves in thermosphericdynamicsis dis-
cussed.
200 400 600 800 I000 1200

SPEED OF SOUND IN M/SEC B. PROPAGATION AND GENERATION OF ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY

Fig. 1. The verticalstructureof the speedof sound.For heights WAVES IN AN ISOTHERMAL ATMOSPHERE
below 100 km the U.S. Standard Atmosphere (1962) is used. For
heightsabove100km the Cira (1965)modelsfor nighttime,sunspot We assumethat the atmosphericbehaviorcanbe described
minimum, and for daytime,sunspotmaximum,conditionsare used. by a set of hydrodynamicequations.Theseare macroscopic
 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHERE ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY WAVES 195

equationsthat are based on conservationlaws [e.g., Landau poOv'/Ot q- Wp' -- p'g q- 2poll xv' = f' (13)
and Lifshitz, 1959]. For our purpose,they take the following 2

form: Op'/Ot-3-v'. WPo-- Co Op'/Ot-- Co"V"

Vpo
Op/Ot q- •.(pv)= q, (4) = (-y- 1)Q' (14)

p Dv/Dt q- Wp- pg q- 2pflXv = f (5) where the unperturbed atmosphere is assumed to be

pT Ds/Dt = Q (6)
In the continuity equation (4), q, is the rate of production of
massper unit volume and is assumedto be localized. In the
equation of motion (5), v is the fluid velocity, g is the
gravitational acceleration,and fl is the Coriolis vector with a
direction parallel to the earth's rotational axistoward Polaris
and with a magnitudeequal to 7.28 x 10-5 rad/s. The vectorf
is the resultant of all other forces, including momentum
sourcesand processesrelated to the viscousstresses.It can be
representedby
f = q2 -t-- •.I- •'i,•pi(v- vi) (7)
The localized momentum source q•. contains the external
momentum source as well as the componentconnectedwith
the massproduction. The viscousstresstensor is given by
I = [Vv + - (8)
In (8), a superscriptT is usedto denote the transposeof a ten-
sor, r/is the coefficientof viscosity,and l is the identity tensor.
The secondcoefficientof viscosityis alwaysignoredin gravity
wave theory, perhapsbecauseit is largely unknown and also
becausethe gravity waves under the Boussinesqapproxima-
tion are nearly incompressible,so that the second viscosity
doesnot contribute.The last term of (7) representstransfer of
momentumdue to collisionsof neutralswith ions. Equation 6
is the heat transferequation for the changein entropy per unit
mass, s. The quantity Q of (6) is given by
Q = qa -I-- • '(g• T)
+ T:Vv + •',.O,(v- v,).(v- v,) (9)
stationary and time independent.On the basis of this set of
equations, the following conservationlaw can be derived in
the sourcelessregion for an inviscidatmosphereoriginally in
hydrostaticequilibrium'
«.o + 2 + 2pofiCo
2poCo •' (p'-
+ V. (v'p') = o 5)
where/• = ('7 - 1)g + dco•'/dz.We can identify p0v'•'/2as the
kineticenergy,p'•'/2poco •'asthe elasticenergyof acoustics,and
g(p' - co¾'?'/2po15co•'as the thermobaricenergy[Eckart, 1960,
p. 54]. Both kinetic energy and elastic energy are familiar
forms of energy. The thermobaric energy comes about
through departuresof the fluid from its naturally buoyant
state.This departureoccursbecausethe time rate of changeof
the thermobaricenergy can be interpreted as the work done
against the buoyancy force. The second-orderenergy flux is
given by v'p'.
It should be mentioned that even though all terms of (15)
are of secondorder, there are second-orderenergy and flux
terms not contained in (15) (see discussionby Eckart [1960,
p. 54]). But (15) does contain all energy and flux terms in-
volving the first-order quantities. Consequently, they have
been called the pseudoenergyand the pseudoenergyflux by
someauthors [Sturrock, 1962]. Sinceonly thesepseudoquan-
tities are discussedin this paper, we shall omit the prefix
pseudo for simplicity.
Our interest in this chapter is to solve the set of equations
12-14 in an isothermal background atmosphere for which
many simplificationswill result in all the equationsdiscussed
so far in this chapter.

In (9), qa is the heat source, which includesheat production 1. DispersionRelation

due to mass source and momentum source as well as the ex- The pressure and density in an isothermal atmosphere
ternal heat input, and K is the thermal conductivity. (more accurately,an atmospherewith a constantscaleheight)
The propagationof wavesin a 1ossyatmosphereis accom- are both exponentially distributed. The perturbation
panied by dissipation.The total rate of energy dissipationis equationsare given by (12)-(14). If we ignore all sourcesand
loss processes,the right-hand sidesof (12)-(14) can be set to
zero. For plane geometry with Coriolis effectignored, the set
= (12)-(14) can be written as a matrix equation [Liu and Yeh,
1971]
where integration is carried out over all sourcelessregions.
The temperatureTois the temperatureof the equivalentther- D. F = o (16)
modynamicsystemwith the sameentropy. By making useof where the matrix operator D is given by
(4) and (6), the total dissipationcan be computed.On a unit
D(V, O/Ot)
volume basis, the dissipation due to thermal conductivity,
viscosity,and ion drag can be shownto be given by [Landau
and Lifshitz, 1959, p. 298] o/o, o/oO/Oy
O/Oz-
W = K(WT)•'/To+ I:Wv + •.pi(v- v•)•' (11) 0 O,/Ox o/at o o
We note that the set of equations4-6 are nonlinear. For o O/Oy o o/at o
small perturbations we may adopt the linearization
1
procedure.Use a subscript0 for unperturbedquantitiesand a o o o/or
prime for perturbedquantities.The linearizedequationstake g o/oz- 2H
the form
_-co• O/Or O/Or o o - j
Op'/Ot q- v"Wpo q- poW'V' = q;' (12) (]7)
196 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
and the field vector is
The convenienceof the assumedisothermal background at-
mosphereis clear,sinceD hasconstantcoefficients.
Its deter-
minant can be obtained simply. Let det D = 0D/Ot, then
D(V, O/Ot) = O'/Ot' - Co:(V:- 1/4H:) - wo:Co:Va: (19)
where Vn: = •:/&x: + •:/•y: and the buoyancyfrequency•oo
is givenby (3). The differentialoperator(19) maybe calledthe
acoustic-gravity-waveoperator. For plane waves, we may
replaceO/Pt by -ioo, &/•x by ikx, •/•y by iky, and •/&z by
ikz in (19); i.e.,
D(k, •o)= •o:(•o:
- •oa:)- •O:Co:[(1
'- •oo:/•o:)ka:
+ k,:] (20)
wherekh: = kx: + ky2. Then settingD = 0 yieldsdirectlythe
dispersionrelation [Eckart, 1960; Hines, 1960]
ka:(1 - •oo:/•o:)+ k,: = ko:(1 - •oa:/•o:) (21)
In (21), ko = W/Co,and •oa= Co/2H is known as the acoustic
cutoff frequency.For • = 1.4, •o0= 0.90&oa.In this case,(21)
gives two branchesof propagationfor internal waves for
which •o and k are real. These two branches are shown as
hatchedareasin Figure 3. The high-frequencybranchis the
acousticbranch(•o> •oa).The dispersionsurfacegivenby (21)
is the surfaceof an ellipsoidwith its major axisin the horizon-
tal direction, having a magnitude ko(1 - •oa:/•o:)x/2/(1-
•o02/•o:)
x/:, and with its minor axis in the vertical direction,
having a magnitudeko(1 - •oa:/•o:) x/:. Sincethe surfaceis
closed,there is no resonance.The phase speedof acoustic
wavesis alwaysgreater than the sound speed.In the limit
•o-• oo,(21) reducesto
k:= ko: (22)
This limiting wave propagatesjust like the ordinary sound
wave and is isotropic.The region•o0< •o < (.0
a is the cutoff
IIIIIIII
cousT,c I
• Jo• ES)
o I • 3
•O•M•IZE• HO•IZORT•W•VE•M•E•, khC/m
b
Fig. 3. Regionsof propagation of the gravity branch and the
acousticbranch in an isothermal atmosphere.The bounding curves
are given by kz = 0. The regionsthat correspondto finite real kz
values are shown by the hatched areas.
WAVES
region in which there are no free waves.The low-frequency
branchin the region •o < •o•is the gravity branch. The disper-
sion surfacegiven by (21) is the surface of revolution of a
hyperbolaabout the vertical axis. The surfaceintersectsthe
horizontal axis at ko(oOa:/Oo: - 1)1/:/(•o•:/•o: - 1)1/:. The
resonanceat which k -• oooccurswhenthe propagationhasa
polar angle Orgiven by
sin Or -- O.)/O,)b (23)
In the gravity wave branch, k is alwaysgreaterthan ko;this
relationshipshowsthat the phasespeedof a wave is always
lessthan the speedof sound.A sampleset of dispersionsur-
facesis shownin Figure 4. The importanceof dispersionsur-
facesin the study of wave propagationhas been thoroughly
discussed[e.g., Lighthill, 1960, 1965].
There are casesof interestin which •o and k in the disper-
sion relation (21) are not all real. For example,for surface
waves,kz is purely imaginary; i.e., k, = ikd'. For this case,
(21) becomes
ka:(1 - oo•:/oo:)- kz": = ko:(1 - •oa:/•o:) (24)
In this case,the field vector F in (18) decaysexponentially
with height. (The growingsolutionis discardedfor finiteness
of energyflux vp' as z -, oo.)A specialcasestudiedby Lamb
[1932], known as Lamb waves, can be obtained from (24)
as
ks: + ky: = ko:
kd'= - (2- •/)/2•/H (25)
This casecorresponds to the 45ø line of Figure 3. Lamb waves
propagatehorizontally with a speedCo.Sincev,' = 0, Lamb
wavescan be supportedby a rigid ground.
The effectof Coriolis force can be studiedby retainingthe
term 2pollx v' in the equation of motion. The differential
operator D given by (17) shouldbe appropriatelymodified.
For the specialcase of vertical axis of rotation, the disper-
sion relation becomes[Eckart, 1960]
k•:(1 - •oo:/•o:)/(1- 4fP/•o:) + kz: = ko:(1- •oa:/•o:) (26)
Fig. 4. Dispersionsurfacesin a model atmosphere(Cira, 1965)in
which3• = 1.40,g = 9.2050m/s, H = 37.371km; thusTa = 11.38min
and To = 12.48 min. Thesevaluescorrespondto a heightof 200 km.
The periodsshownin boxesare givenin minutes.[After Hines, 1960.]
 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES 197

With this modification, the lower boundary of the gravity F2 = F1c02(co

2-- co02)/[co
2-- g(3'- 1)(--ik, q- 1/2H)]
wave propagation region is changedfrom co= 0, as was the
case in (21), to co = 2f/. The rotational correction is of the
order fF'/co"on o' and p' and of the order fUcoon v. Therefore
even for waveshaving a l-h period, the effectof rotation on o' = Fs(co"--coo2)/co[k,
+ iw,(T- 2)/Tc0] (28)
and p' will be only about 1%.
The three componentsof total energy density are kinetic,
For differentapplications,it is sometimesdesirableto make
elastic, and thermobaric, as given by (15). In the complex
approximations.Some of these are tabulated in Table 1. In
notation usedhere,the time-averagedtotal energydensitycan
referenceto Table 1, we note that the Boussinesqapproxima-
be computedby usingthe polarization relations(28) and the
tion assumedthat (1) the fluid is incompressibleand (2) dispersionrelation (24); thus we obtain
variationsin the fluid densityare neglectedin the inertia term
and are taken into accountin the gravitationalterm. Assump- E = IF,I - ,'kx'co' - - (29)
tion 2 is valid when the vertical wavelengthis small in com-
parisonwith the scaleheight(comparewith the Hines asymp- It can be shown that the potential energy of the wave is
totic limit given in the footnote of Table 1). Becauseof mainly containedin the elasticenergyif • >> •, and mainly
assumption1, the Boussinesqfluid cannot support acoustic containedin the thermobaricenergyif • << •,. The averaged
waves. To remedy this situation, assumption I can be energy flux can also be computed similarly and gives
removed; as a result, we have the semi-Boussinesqap- F = (IFala/2)[•k./w + )k,/w + 2wk•/(w
2 -- w•2)] (30)
proximation for which the acousticbranch reappears.

2. Propertiesof Internal Waves By comparing (27), (29), and (30), we obtain

We haveseenthat the dispersionsurfacegiven by (21) is not FIE = vo (31)

spherical;thus the anisotropic nature of these waves is in-
dicated. Since the group velocity is in a direction normal to
the dispersionsurface, the phase progressionand the wave
packet will generally propagate in different directions [Yeh
and Liu, 1972a]. By differentiating (21), we can obtain the
group velocity
+ •kzw2]WCo2/(co
'• - coo2kx•co
•)
where5:,p, and 5 are unit vectorsalong respectivecoordinate
axes.For acousticwaves(co> coa),the x, y, and z components
of vg all have the same sign as kx, ky, and kz, respectively.
However,for gravity waves(co< coo),the x and y components
of vg still have the samesign as kx and ky, and the z compo-
nent of vg and k• have oppositesigns.
The systemof equations(16) has a uniquesolutionexcept
for a constantmultiplier. Therefore we may solvefour of the
five componentsof F in terms of the remainingcomponent.
Experiencehas shownthat it is convenientto expressall other
componentsin terms of F,.; this procedure results in the
following polarization relations:
Thereforethe energyis transportedwith the group velocity,a
very satisfyingresult.
3. Effect of Horizontally Stratified Winds
In the thermospherethe wind may be as high as 200 m/s
(seereviewby Rishbeth[1972])and its effecton the propaga-
tion of acoustic-gravitywavescan be very important [Hines
and Reddy, 1967; Pierce, 1965; Cowling et al., 1971]. Basi-
(27) cally, the effect of a constanthorizontal backgroundwind
can be taken into accountrelatively simply by introducinga
co-moving coordinate system in which the background at-
mosphere is stationary. Since wave properties in the
stationary atmosphereare known, the effect of wind can be
found by coordinate inversion. In this section, let us use a
prime to denote those quantities in the rest frame of the
medium to distinguishthem from those in the laboratory
frame (no prime). Then the Galilean space-timetransforma-
tion valid for nonrelativistichorizontal velocity Vois
r' = r-- v0t k' = k (32a)
t' = t co' = co-- k' % (32b)

TABLE 1. DispersionRelationsfor Different Fluids

Fluid Property DispersionRelation Comments References

Incompressibleand kz2 = -kx 2 No freew aves;boundariesarenecessary

homogeneous to supportsurfacewaves
Compressibleand k •" = ko"- Longitudinalacousticwaves LandauandLifshitz
homogeneous [1959]
Compressibleand isother- k•a = ko• - kx• - (1/2H) z Freewavesforgo> •o,,= •,g/2Co;hasboth Bergmann[ 1946]
mal but with zerogravity longitudinalandtransversecomponents
Incompressible and k, • = -kx•(l - •o0%o")
- (1/28)'- Freewavesfor •o< •o0= •,•/=g/Co Tolstoy[ 1963]
isothermal
Boussinesq
fluid* kz2= -kx2( 1 - •oo•'/•o
•') Freewavesfor •o< •o0= •,•/"g/Co;hasonly Chandrasekhar[ 1961]
transverse components
Semi-Boussinesq
fluid kz•= ko•- kxa(l -•oo•'/•o•')- l/'yH •' Freewavesfor •o> •o,,= •,•/"g/Coor for Cho[1972]
•o< •oo= (3' - 1)•/Zg/Co,
Compressible
and isother- k•= ko2-kx•-(1-•of/•o•-)-(1/2H) •- Free wavesfor •o > •oa= •,g/2coor for Eckart [ 1960]andHines
mal •o< •oo= (• - 1)•/Zg/Co [1960]
Compressibleandisother- k• •= ko•- [kx•(l - •of/•o•')](1- 4fi•'/•o•')
-• Freewavesforgo> •oa- •,g/2coor for Eckart [ 1960]
malandrotationabout - (1/2H) • 2fi < •o< •oo= (3' - 1)•/Zg/Co
vertical axis

* Also called the asymptoticlimit, which obtains from the compressibleand isothermalcasewhen k•" >> •o,"/Co"and k•" >> •o:/Co"
[Hines, 1960]. However, note the differencein the definition of
198 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITYWAVES

We note that (32) implies
to't' - k'.r' = tot - k.r (33)
That is, a plane wave in the rest frame of the atmosphereis
alsoa planewavein the laboratoryframerelativeto whichthe
atmosphereis movingwith v0.Further, if we let r andr' be the
location of a wave packet in thesetwo frames,(32a) implies
that f' = • - Vo, or
vs = rs' + Vo (34)
Thereforethe group velocityin the laboratoryframeis equal
to the group velocityin the restframe of the mediumplusthe
wind velocity [Bretherton,1966;Jones, 1969; Cowlingel al.,
1971]. SinceVois in the horizontal direction,the z components
of vs and %' are equal.
The rules for Galilean transformation of the energy-
momentum tensor also imply that the time-averagedenergy
densitywill transform accordingto [Sturrock, 1962]
E = (to/to')E' (35)
We note that sinceE' is the energydensityin the rest frame
of the medium, it is therefore alwayspositive.However, the
energydensity in the laboratory frame can be negativeeven
for positivetoif the Doppler shift is large enoughto make to'
negative.The quantity E'/to' has been called the wave action
[Garrett, 1968; Bretherton and Garrett, 1969]. It has been
provenby them that for a slowlyvaryingwavetrain in various
losslessmedia in motion, there exists a conservation law
are characterizedby kz = +ikz", where the proper sign must
be chosento assurethat the wave energy is confinednear the
boundary. The relation (39) and the two dispersionrelations
(one for the medium below the discontinuity and one for it
above) provide three relationsfor four variables(to,ka, kzl",
and k•2" or their equivalent). When any one of these four is
given (usually to or period), these equationscan be used to
find the remainingwave properties.Studieshave shownthat
at long periods thesewaves are nondispersiveand propagate
with a speed near the speed of sound in the upper layer
[Thorne,1968]. The kinetic energyfor theselong wavesresides
mainly above the discontinuity. As the period decreases
through the Brunt-V•iis•il•i period of the lower region, the
horizontal phase velocity falls sharply, and its kinetic energy
is redistributedto lie below the discontinuity[Francis,1973a].
Some of these features are shown in Figure 5. Also shown is
the Lamb wave that is supported by the solid ground (see
equation 25 and its associateddiscussion).The kinetic energy
of the Lamb wave is confinednear the surfaceof the ground
as it decreasesexponentially with height, as is shown. In a
model atmospherewith both the temperature discontinuity
and the solid ground, the boundarywave (labeledGo)and the
Lamb wave (labeled L0) can both exist with slight
modifications,but the atmospherecan also support an ad-
ditional spectrumof higher-ordermodes.These modeshave
been discussedextensively [Pfeifer and Zarichny, 1963;
Harkrider and Wells, 1968; Volland, 1969a, b; Tolstoy and
Pan, 1970]. The similaritiesand somedifferencesof modesGo
and L0 under this drastic simplificationand modesin a more
realistic lossy model atmosphere have been discussed

6OO 6OO

The energyflux given by P' = E'vs' in the rest frame of the 500 500
medium becomes
400 400
F = Evg = (oo/oo')E'(%'+ Vo) (37)
300 300
in the laboratory frame.
The effect of winds on the dispersionsurfacehas beenex-
200 200
amined by Pierce [1966b].

4. Surface WavesSupportedby a TemperatureDiscontinuity

IooI o I I
IOO
o I I
0 500 I000 K.E. 0 500 I000
We have seenfrom Figure I a sharpincreasein the speedof SOUND SPEED (m/sec) SOUND SPEED (rn/sec)

soundnearthe baseof the thermosphere(approximatelyat 130 (o) (b)

km) that may beapproximatedby a temperaturediscontinuity.
It is then of interestto look for possibilitiesof boundarywaves
u 800
-IMPERFECTLY
E DUCTED
MODES
supportedby such a discontinuity.This problem was first '" 700 Go
treated by Thorne[1968].
o 600
Let subscriptsI and 2 denotethe quantities,respectively,
below and above the discontinuitythat is assumedto occur 5O0 _ FULLY IMPERFECTLY
DUCTED DUCTED MODES'
at z = 0. The boundary conditionsare continuity of pressure MODES
and normal velocity. For a stationary background atmo- m 400

sphere,they reduceto the followingjump conditions. _l Lo I Lo

7- •oo- I
z

[•OCO
•]1:2= 0 [Dz
!]1:2= 0 o I
N 200 --
(38) •- I
O
[-- •p' -- gpov,'
]12= 0 i

.3 5 I0 15 .30 60 120

PERIOD (MINUTES)
By making use of the polarization relations (28) and jump
conditions(38), the following relation can be derived: (c)
Fig. 5. (a) The kinetic energyprofile for a long-periodboundary
L," - + -- + wavein a modelatmosphere. The upperhalf spacehasa soundspeed
•o2 -- k•Co,• - /x•2-- kh2C022 of 700 m/s and the lower half spacehasa soundspeedof 310 m/s. (b)
(39) The kinetic energy profile of a Lamb mode in an isothermal at-
mospheresupportedby the solid ground. (c) The dispersioncurvesof
where, owing to Snell'slaw, ka•: kaa= ka. Boundarywaves the modes of Figures 5a and 5b. [From Francis, 1973a.]
 YEH AND L•U: UPPER ATMOSPHERE ACOUSTIC.:GRAVITY WAVES 199

thoroughlyby Francis[1973a]andarereviewedin chapterD. sipation is small, then the imaginary part of k• can be com-
puted approximately by using
5. Reflectionand Refractionat a Sharp Boundary
w/2r (44)
The presenceof a boundarycan supportsurfacewavesbut
can alsogive rise to the phenomenaof reflectionand refrac- where W is the time-averageddissipationper unit volumeand
tion. Consider an interface separating two isothermal at- F, is the vertical componentof energyflux in an inviscid at-
mospheresin relative motion. The boundary conditionsare mosphere, as given by (30). Since W (due to three loss
the continuityof the distortedsurfaceand the continuity of processes)is additive (see equation 11), its effect on k•" will
pressure.Apply thesetwo boundaryconditionsto the casein also enter additively in our perturbation computation, and
which a wave with energy incident from below is reflected therefore it is convenient to compute k," separately.
from and transmitted through the interface, and we may For the purposeof computingenergylossdue to ion drag,
derive the following reflection coefficientR and transmission let us orient the coordinate axes so that the x axis is eastward,
coefficient
T [Revah,1969;McKenzie,1972]: the y axisis northward,and the z axisis upward. Let I be the
magneticdip. The averageenergylossper unit volumedueto
R=l)zt(r)
[:=o=pl(oO•'
•7•T77 p(i)----ig)-
-- px(wx'P(') ps(ws'P
ig) nt- t __ig)
()--
p2(co2
tP(t)
ion drag is then
= v,)-(v' - v,)*
(40)

l)zt(t)
T- ,(,, = (w,'/w,')(1 + R) (41) 602
/)z z=O

Here P = (co'•'- cof)/oo'[kz+ icod'y- 2)/'yc0], which comes

from the polarizationrelation (28) and mustbe appliedto the
incident wave or reflected wave or transmitted wave. The
+(w'
--kh'co')cos'
I +_ 2k_•_k,c0'
c0.(w sin
I cos
I1
massdensities0x and 0: are those at the interface for the at- wherev = v,,,p,/po.The correspondingkz" can be found easily
mospherebelow and above the interface,respectively. by using (44):
The reflectioncoefficient(40) simplifies,in the acousticap-
proximation (co' >> co,,g -, 0), to 2) 2 2
r(w'
t2
P2W2kz
--w;,
(i) [.k•.+wk,,sin
21 (k•."),,•
= 2wkz
1+--ZZ.
R= 1 a Za= PlWl
,2k,<t)(42) + (w'-- ' ' sinI cos
I
k•,co)cos'
which agreeswith the reflectioncoefficientderived by Miles
co(.,I +
- 2k,,k•co
• •o ' (45)

[1957] and Ribnet [1957]. On the other hand, under the The attenuation of the wave due to thermal conduction and
Boussinesqapproximation with p• = ps, we obtain viscositycan be computedsimilarly.The algebrainvolvedis
straightforward but tedious. They result in, respectively,
1 -- Z•, OostSk,
(t)
R = 1+ Zb Z, = ,2k•(i) (43) tc(k'+ l/4H')[(w'-- g/2H)'
(kz")tc
-- 2co•p,,wk•.(w2
wt,
2)
For the more general case, one has to work with (40). Two
caseshave been studied by McKenzie [1972]: reflection at a
density(or temperature)discontinuityand wave amplification
at a shear layer. He has found that the density discontinuity
and
actslike a perfectreflectorfor thosegravity waveswith kh >>
1/2H. At theshearlayer,IRI > 1 if k• > co/Vo,
wherev0isthe
wind speedalong the x axis in the upper medium.
The reflection coefficient (40) derived by requiring the
boundary conditions to be satisfied does not necessarily (47)
guaranteethat the energyflux will be conservedat the inter-
face [Hinesand Reddy, 1967]. Becauseof the relative motion a In the acousticlimit (co-• co, H -• co), both (46) and (47)
properGalilean transformation,suchas that discussed in sec- reduceto the equationsgivenby Landauand Lifvhitz [1959,p.
tion B.3, is required. When such care is taken, the vertical 300]. In the Boussinesqfluid, (47) reducesto an equation
energyflux given by the z componentof (37) is found to be identical
to thatgivenby Thorne
andRao [1969].
continuous at the interface [McKenzie, 1972]. Figure 6 showsthe extinctiondistancedefinedas (k•")•,•-•
for internal gravity wavesat a height of 200 km in the mean
6. Attenuation Due to Loss Processes
Cira (1965) atmosphere.
As is seenfrom (11), the three processesthat convert wave
7. Generation of A coustic-Gravity Waves
energy into heat are ion drag, thermal conduction, and
in an Isothermal Atmosphere
viscosity.The effects of loss on propagation of acoustic-
gravity waves have been considered by many authors Experimentalobservationshave suggestedmany possible
[PittewayandHines, 1963;Liu and Yeh, 1969;ThomeandRao, generation mechanisms,both natural and artificial (see
1969]. chapterE). In general,thesemechanisms canbe classedasbe-
Let the acoustic-gravitywave be incident from below in a ing due to one or a combination of three types of sources:
losslessatmosphere.Becauseof horizontal stratificationand massproduction,momentumproduction,and heat produc-
Snel!'slaw, k•, must be real and constantat any height. In this tion. Various authors have studied the sourceproblem for
case,the wave dissipationwill make kz complex. If the dis- different cases[Pierce, 1963; Row, 1967; Cole and Greifinger,
200 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES

HORIZONTAL WAVELENGTH, km
2000 I000 500 200 I00 50
F(r,t) = •i t F(r,co)
exp(-- icot)
dco (53)

' where
Ioo

½
F(r,co) 1 f •-k-,
- (2;r)aS(k,
co)
exp
(ik.r)dk (54)

The integration path F in (53) is taken parallel to the real w

axis and above all singularitiesof the integrand so that the
principle of causality'is satisfied.
500 I'•
The inverse transforms (53) and (54), in general, are
difficultto carry out exactly.However, if our interestis in the
I000• radiation fields far away from the localized source, certain
0.5 •.. asymptotictechniquescan be used to yield physicallymean-
2000 ingful and relatively simple expressions.Lighthill [1960] has
0.2 shownthat in the far field approximation and for integralsof
0.1 0.2 0.5 I 2 5 I0
the type of (54), the contributionsto the radiation field come
kh(m'l) x105 only from those rays whose group velocity vectorslie in the
Fig. 6. Contours of extinction distanceowing to viscousdamping samedirection as the observationpoint r(r, 0, ½). These con-
for the averageCira (1965) atmosphere. tributing rays can be found from the dispersionsurfaceD(k,
w) = 0. In the presentcase,the asymptoticexpressionof (54)
1969; Dickinson,1969a, b; Chimonasand Hines, 1970a]. It is found to be [Liu and Yeh, 1971]
turns out that for an isothermal atmosphere,the transient
response of the atmospheredueto excitationcanbe discussed l*(r, •o) • -- 1 S[k(co), co]
in a fairly general fashion [Liu and Yeh, 1971]. 4•.co2r
[(w2
_ wo2)(w2
__coC2)]I/2
exp[ir•(w)]
The starting point is again the set of equations 12-14. (55)
Sincewe are dealingwith,a nonrotatinglosslessatmosphere, where
the Coriolis and losstermsin the equationscan be neglected.
By putting the set into matrix form, an equation similar to co•.= cooCOS0 (56)
(16) is obtained, exceptnow the equation is inhomogeneous
becauseof the presenceof sources.Thus
•(•0)= (•/c0)[& - •0.•)(•d- •0•)/& - •0•)1 (57)

D.F = Q(r, t) (48) and the dependenceon k of S[k(w), w] is given by

Here D and F are givenby (17) and (18), respectively,and Q is kh•.= (co4
sin•. O/c•.)(co•.
_ co,•.)/(co2
_ co,•.)(co•.
_
the source vector
k.•' = (co½o/d)(• • - •.•)& - •,•)/& - •,•) (58)
q•t/po•/2 k•/k, = tan •
q2•tt/Po
1/2 I For a given w, (58) gives the wave vector k that has the
associatedgroupvelocityvectorlying in the samedirectionas
Q = q2,,t/po
1/2 (49) the observationpoint r(r, 0, ½).
Substituting(55) into (53), we obtain the transientresponse

_(?- q2
zt
/pol
/2t
The q•' are the sourceterms definedin (4), (7), and (9).
•)q.•,/po•
--1

F(r,t)• 8•co•r
Equation 48 can be-recastinto a scalar equation
D(V, O/Ot)F = S(r, t) (50)
'fr•(• S[k(w),
- •)(•-w]
• a)],:s
exp
[iq(w)]
dw (59)
where
whereD is the acoustic-gravity-wave
operatordefinedin (19)
and S is the equivalentsourcevector given by q(•) = r•(•) - •t (60)

õ = D".Q (51) To evaluate(59), the method of saddlepoint can be used.For

large r, the contribution to the integral comesmainly from the
Here D" is the adjoint of D and the dot over the S signifiesa
time derivative.
vicinity of saddlepoints • of the exponentdeterminedby
To solve(50), we apply the Fourier transform both in time dq/d• = 0 (61a)
and in space and obtain or

D(k, w)F(k, w) = S(k, w) (52) •'(•) = d•/dml•• = t/r (6lb)

where we have used the same symbols to denote Fourier
transform pairs, so that F(k, w) is the transform of F(r, t) and
S(k, w) is the transformof S(r, t). The expressionfor D(k, w)
has been given in (20). The formal solutionto (50) can be ex-
pressedin terms of the inverse transform as
No signalarrivesat the observationpoint for t < r/c. As r =
Cot/r• 1+, an acousticprecursorat high frequencyappears.
This is the acousticmode, and its frequencydecreases at the
observationpoint as time increasesuntil it approaches•
asymptotically.Sometimeafter the first arrival of the acoustic
 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITY WAVES 201

12 - TOTAL NORMALIZED RESPONSE

• CONTRIBUTION FROM GRAVITY MODE
I0
- r = 2000 km /r• /•
8
Co=
800m/sec / ••-L•

-2

-4

-6

-8

-I0

I I I I I I I I I
290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390

T in minutes
Fig. 7. The large time responseof the atmosphereto an impulsivepoint sourceshowingessentiallythe internal gravity
wave plus a weak acoustic wave. [From Liu and Yeh, 1971.]

precursors,a signalwith frequencyw0< w0beginsto build up
correspondingto the arrival of the low-frequencycontribu-
tion. This portion of the signal is decomposedinto two com-
ponentsas time increases,one at frequencyw0 < w < w0 and
the other at wc < w < w0. In the literature, they have been
referred to as buoyancy mode and gravity mode, respectively
[Dickinson, 1969a, b; Liu and Yeh, 1971]. Therefore, in
general,three wavesexist at the observationpoint, and their
respectivefrequenciesapproachwa,wo,and wcasymptotically.
Analytic asymptoticexpressions for the fieldF(r, t) in different
regionsof r can be obtainedby usingthe saddlepoint method
but will not be given here. Interestedreadersare referredto
the original paper [Liu and Yeh, 1971]. In Figure 7 the final
stageof a typicalatmosphericF regionresponsedueto an im-
pulsivepoint sourceis shown.The dominatingcontributionis
the long-periodgravity mode. Superposedon it is the shorter-
period acousticmode. As time increases,the gravity mode
becomesthe only important one. It is interestingto note that
at a given observation point, the frequency of the gravity
mode approachesw• = •ooz/r.This fact hasbeenusedby Row
[1967] to interpret the experimental observations of
ionospheric traveling disturbances caused by nuclear
detonations.The interestingrange dependenceof w• can be
explained by using the group velocity concept. Since the
group raysare straightlinesin an isothermalatmosphere,the
positionof a ray propagatingin the xz planeis determinedby
using (27) to be x/z = kx(o•2 - o•o2)/kzo• •. Under the
Boussinesqapproximation, it reduces to x/z = (o• • -
w•)x/:/w, which when it is solvedfor w, yields w = o•oz/r. This
is just w• discussedabove.
Various authors have suggested the possibility of
generating acoustic-gravitywaves by natural or artificial
sourcesin motion [ Wilson, 1969; Chimonasand Peltier, 1970;
Chimonas and Hines, 1970a; Balachandranand Donn, 1971].
Also, experimentalevidencelends supportto the generation
of atmosphericacoustic-gravity
wavesby the travelingseismic
waves along the surface of the earth [Donn and Posmentier,
1964; Yuen et al., 1969; Cook, 1971]. The method discussed
above can be used to study these cases with some
modifications[Liu and Yeh, 1972].
C. PROPAGATION OF ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY WAVES
IN A REALISTIC ATMOSPHERE
The temperaturein a real atmospherevaries as a function
of height. Therefore the results discussedin the previous
chapter for acoustic-gravity waves in an isothermal at-
mospheremust be usedwith cautionwhen applieddirectlyto
the realistic case. Furthermore, the various loss mechanisms
discussedin sectionB.6 and the background neutral wind all
affect the propagation of acoustic-gravitywaves in a very
complicated way. To study these waves in a realistic at-
mosphere,theseeffectshave to be consideredsimultaneously.
The problem is immensely complex. Many authors have
attemptedto solveit undervariousapproximations[Pressand
Harkrider, 1962;Pfeifer and Zarichny, 1963;Harkrider, 1964;
Friedman, 1966; Midgley and Liemohn, 1966; Hines and
Reddy, 1967; Volland,1969a,b; Klostermeyer,1969, 1972a,b;
Clark et al., 1971; Francis, 1973a]. In this chapter, some of
these results will be discussed.
In general,two approaches
havebeenadoptedfor thesolu-
tion of the problem. One is the free wave approach in which
the effectsof the boundariesand discontinuitiesare neglected.
The other is the guided mode analysisin which boundaries
play veryimportantroles.For wavesin the upperatmosphere
where the ground reflectionis not so important, the free wave
approachusuallyis moreconvenient
to use.For wavesnear
the ground or supported by discontinuities,guided mode
analysisis more appropriate.
1. Ray Theory
If the properties of the medium do not vary appreciably
within a wavelength,the ray theory (or geometricoptics) ap-
202 YEHANDLIU:UPPER
ATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES

where
proachto thepropagation
problemis valid.In general,
the
rayequationscanbederived
fromFermat's principle,
which, F = (2•o:- •o,: - co:k:)
-• (64)
in termsof Hamilton'sequations,
isexpressed
as[Landau
and
Lifihitz, 1959;Whirham,1061;YehandLiu, 1972b] Theseequations,
thoughcomplicatedastheystand,canbein-
tegrated
numerically
ona digitalcomputer
toyieldtherayr(t)
dr/dt = X7kH dk/dt = -- X7rH (62) and the wave vectork(t) for a givenatmospheric model.
Whenthereis a time-and spatial-varying
horizontalneutral
wherer isa pointontheraypath,Vr andV•,arethegradient wind,theequations
canstillbeusedwiththereplacement of
operators in r and k space,respectively, and H for the Doppler-shifted
frequency
•o'for•o,where•o'and•oarerelated
acoustic-gravity-wave
systemisjust(20)(i.e.,H = D(k, •o),ex- through(32). An additionalequationfor frequency is
ceptfor thenonisothermal atmosphere, Cois thelocalsound sometimesuseful [Jones,1969]
speed,andthebuoyancy frequency •o0isdefined by equation
2). By substituting(20) into (62), ray equations can be
derived.For a spherical
coordinate system withthecenterof dw
dt
......k 0vo w
Ot
' Oco
Co Ot
(w,,22k2
co )F (65)
theearthastheorigin,theequations for r(r, 19,½)andk(kr,k•,
Thisequation
allowsintegration
of theDopplershiftin fre-
k,) are givenby [Georges,1972]
quencywhentheatmosphere changes slowlywithrespect to
dr time.
-- co2krco
F
dt Theseray equationsare valid for three-dimensional
dO 1
variationsof the atmosphere.In many applicationsthe
dt r
[co2o(w
•-- wo
2 F/w] horizontalvariationscan be neglected,
and the atmosphere
can be assumedto be stratifiedhorizontally.For this case,a
simplified
ray-tracing
procedure basedon Snell'slaw is
dqb
dt
- 1 [c02k,(w
r sin 0
2-- •)F/wl applicable.
Theatmosphereisdivided intohorizontal
slabs
of
constanttemperatures.
Snell'slaw requiresthe horizontal
dkr wOCo
Or(w,2
dt - Co 2k
-- Co•)Fq-2w
gFO2Co
• wavevectork• to be constantacrosstheslabboundaries.
a givenfrequency
•oandhorizontal
For
wavevectork• in a given
dO dck slab,k, canthenbe computedfromthe dispersionrelation.
(63) Thenthegroupvelocityvgiscomputedbyusing(27)and(34).
ß(ko
• + k,•) +.ko•- + k•sin0•
Thisgivestheposition
andthedirection
of therayintheslab.
Thecomputation
isthenrepeated
forthenextslab
andsoon.
dko
dt - rl[•OCo 2-- Co2k2
• (w, )F+ •gFO•co
2
OOOr Cowlingetal. [1971]applied
thistechnique
to traceraysof in-
ternalgravitywavesin a modelatmosphere withstratified
neutralwinds.Figure8 showssometypicalrays.
ß(•0"+ •) - •0• + r•, cos
0• In thediscussion
above,theatmosphere
istakenaslossless.
Foralossy
atmosphere, therayequations
havetobemodified
dt- r•in0 • -Co F+ 2wO4Or [Jones,
1970].In thefollowing
section,
thisproblem
willbe
discussed
by usinga differentapproach.
Onepointworthnotingis therefractionby theearth's
ß(ko dr
2+ k,2 -- k,sinO• -- rk,cos
O• dO• gravitational
fieldin a spherical
geometry.
It hasbeenshown

SUMMER WIND MODEL

HORIZONTAL VELOCITY I00 m/s
300
PERIOD 30 min
STARTING AZIMUTH:
a. 45 ø b.45 ø c. 225ø
STARTING TIME:
a. 0600 b. 0000 c. 0000

200

I i
0 200 400 600 800 I000 1200 1400 1600 1800
HORIZONTAL DISTANCE (km)
Fig.8. Plotshowing
three
possible
outcomes
ofagroup
rayduetohorizontal
winds.
Curve
A shows
penetration,
curve
B, reflection,
andcurveC, asymptotic
trapping.
[FromCowling
et al., 1971.]
 YEH ANDLIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES 203

[Francis, 1972] that the resulting ray path curvature nearly where
matchesthe earth's curvature for gravity waves but not for
acousticwaves.This interestingresultjustifiesthe use,at least Co•(Z) = A• exp -i k•(•) d•
approximately, of plane geometriespertaining to terrestrial o

(73)
environment in discussingpropagation of gravity waves.
Cgi(z) = •gi exp i k:g(•)
2. CoupledEquationFormulation Zo

Clogelyrelatedto the ray theory of wave propagationis the
WKB solution. The derivation of this approximate solution,
and its extensionto higher orders, can be done conveniently
by following the so-calledcoupledequation formulation. Let
us considera 1ossy,nonisothermal,stratified atmosphere.
In a nonisothermalatmosphere,the equilibrium pressureis
no longer exponentiallydistributed,sincethe scaleheightH is
now a functionof z. To discussthe wavemotionin suchan at-
mosphere,the starting equationsare again (12)-(14). When
the Coriolis effect and viscosityare neglectedand a plane
wave solution of the form
where Zo is a referencelevel and •i,j is the Kroneker delta.
Equation72 i• an integralequation.On the basisof this equa-
tion, an iterative procedurecan be devisedto obtain the solu-
tionnumerically.
Oncec(z)issoiled,thewaveparameter
e(z)
can be obtained from (68).
Followingthe sameprocedure?theeffectof viscositycan be
studied.This resultsin two more pairs of characteristicwaves:
up- and down-going ordinary and extraordinary viscosity
waves [ •olland, 1969a].
3. The WKB Solution

e(z) exp [-i(o•t - kxx - kyy)] The WKB solutionof t•e problemis obtainedfrom (72) by
neglectingthe secondterm on the right-handside.In this ap-
is assumed,the following set of equationscan be derived for proximation the solution is simply
the height variation function e(z) [Clark et al., 1970]
c(z) = Co(Z) (74)
de(z)/dz + iA(z).e(z) = 0 (66) and from (68)

whereby definitionthe vectore hasfour componentsgivenby e½) = Be). Co½) (75)

The WKB solutions are just the individual characteristic

e• = (gHpo)•/•z' e2= p'/(gHpo)•/2
(67) waves.l'hey propagateindependentlyof eachother as long as
the matrix B -•. d•B/& is small. This matrix is called the
ea= (gHpo)•/2KT
' e4(z) (dT'
= K\ •ldln
dz-Jr- dzT0
T') couplingmatrix, since its elementsindicate the coupling
and reflectionamong the characteristicwaves.Wherever the
Here To(z)is the equilibrium temperatureof the atmosphere coupling is strong, the WKB solution hils to be valid. Such
and • is the heat conductivity. In (66), A is a 4 X 4 matrix regionsexist in the neighbbrhoodof thosevaluesof z at which
whoseelementsdependon the height variable z [Clark et al., the matrix B becomessingular.Thesepointsarecalled'coupl-
1970]. ing points' or 'turning points.' The couplingor reflectionof
Equation 66 is a set of coupled equations with variable wavesoccursin the neighborhoodof these points.
coefficients.Standard proceduresmay be followed to solveit As an example, let us considera losslessnonisothermalat-
[Clemmowand Heading, 1954; Buddenand Clemmow, 1957; mosphere. For this case, only two characteristicmodes are
Inoue and Horowitz, 1966; Volland, 1967; Yeh and Liu, 1972b]. present, and (71) yields the solution
To do so, we introduce a new vector e and let B be the
transformation matrix that diagonalizesthe matrix A so that

e(z) = B(z).c(z) (68)

Substituting(68)into (66), we obtain & (76)

dc/dz + id.c = --B-'.(dB/dz).c (69) The plus and minus signs indicate down- and up-going
where B i is the inverse of B and where for convenience we
acoustic-gravity waves, respectively. The dot on the H
have let
signifiesa heightderivative.Comparing (76) and (21), we note
the contribution due to the variation of the scaleheight with
(B-"A'B), i = (d),•- = k•, b,; (70) respect to z. The transformation matrix B for this case is
given by
We note that the eigenvalueskz, are the roots of the equation

det (A + kzl) = 0 (71) L E+ E-

where
In (69), B is constructed in the usual manner from the
eigenvectorsof A. Equation 71 is a fourth-order algebraic R+ = (2 -- 'y)/2,yH
+ ikz
+
equation in kz whose solutions correspond to four -- iw(1
-- wb2/of)/gH (78)
characteristic modes: up- and down-going acoustic-gravity
waves and up- and down-going thermal conduction waves.
With these k,•, the solution of (69) can be written as exp \./•_-
--•+) (79)

c(z)= Co(Z)
-- C-•(z).fz The characteristicwavescan be obtainedfrom (73), (75), and
zC(•).B
o -• d8 (72)
(76).
204 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITY WAVES

The WKB solutionsof acoustic-gravitywaves have been
studiedby variousauthors.Someof the subtlepointsconcern-
ing the behavior near the turning points are discussedby
Einaudiand Hines [1970] and Tolstoy [1972].
4. Attenuationin a Realistic Atmosphere
From the results of WKB solution, the attenuation of the
acoustic-gravitywaves in a realistic atmospherecan be cludingall threedissipativeprocesses,
studiedin a straightforwardmanner.For a givenatmosphere and the amplitude of the up-going gravity wave. Figure 9
model,the eigenvaluekz for the acoustic-gravity
wavecanbe showssome of his computed results.On the figure, cases
computed by including the effects of thermal conduction, whereonly one of the dissipativeprocessesis presentare also
viscosity, ion drag, and background neutral wind. The
amplitudeof the wavefor the velocityperturbation,for exam-
ple, can be obtained as
exp (1/2H k..[) dr (80)
Zo
Using this procedure, Volland [1969b] has studied the
attenuationof the acoustic-gravitywavesin the thermosphere
with viscosityneglected.
A more accurate solution of the problem is the so-called
full wave solution. The procedureis outlined as follows. The
atmosphere is divided into thin layers. In each layer, the
background atmosphericparameters are taken as constants
and equal to the local valuesof the continuousatmosphereat
the center of the slab. The characteristic waves are found
within the layer. There can be as many as eight characteristic
waveswhen both thermal conductionand viscosityare taken
into account. At the interface betweenadjacentlayers, inter-
facial conditions must be used to match the characteristic
waves in the two layers. These conditions include the con-
tinuity of the velocity, pressure,temperature, heat flux, etc.
[ Volland, 1969b;Klostermeyer, 1972a, b]. The computation is
carried out throughout the thermosphere.Various authors
have carried out the full wave solution for propagation of
acoustic-gravity waves for different atmospheric models.
Midgley and Liemohn [1966] computed the waves for the
lower atmosphere below 200 km. Hines and Reddy [1967]
studied the effect of wind on the acoustic-gravity waves.
Volland[1969b] has shown that for gravity wavesin the ther-
mosphere,the WKB solution is a sufficientapproximation for
the full wave computation. Clark et al. [1970] computedthe
effectsdue to both thermal conductionand ion drag.
Perhaps the most elaborate full wave computations of
acoustic-gravity waves are those made by Klostermeyer
[1972a, b, c]. Using the set of hydrodynamic equations, in-
he computedthe phase
plotted to comparethem with the full solution. The model at-
mosphereis the U.S. Standard Atmosphere(1966), and the
exospherictemperatureis taken as 1200øK. The geomagnetic
inclination is equal to 67ø. It is seen that the viscosityand
thermal conductioninfluencethe wave in muchthe sameway.
Their effectson the attenuationof the wave amplitudeare of
the sameorder. The effectof ion drag dependson frequency,
as is expected. All three loss mechanismsaffect the wave in
someway and shouldbe taken into accountsimultaneouslyto
compute the phase and amplitude of the wave. Under the
combinedinfluenceof viscosity,thermal conduction,and ion
drag, Re kz tends to zero at great heightsand Im k, is ap-
proximatelyequal to 1/2H abovethe F•.peak' thus the decay-
ing of the wave amplitude is indicated.
The validity of the multilayer analysishas beenjustifiedby
Pierce [1966a] for an inviscid atmosphere without
backgroundwinds. Interestedreadersare referredto a recent
paper by Hines [1973] in which he discussedthis problem
again for more general atmosphericmodels.
5. Guided A coustic-GravityModes
So far, the discussionin this chapterhas beenconcentrated
on the free acoustic-gravitywaves in a realistic atmosphere
for which the ground effectis neglected.As was discussedin
sectionB.2, in the presenceof the solidground, surfacewaves
known as Lamb wavescan existin the atmospherethat have
energy concentrated near the surface of the earth. Also dis-
cussedin sectionB.5 was the fact that a temperaturediscon-
tinuity in the atmosphere can support surface waves

600
to:5.0x1•3s
-I kx:1.5xl(55m
-I ky:0 - ,•

o
ß 0
o o
ß OA
500 o

400 '.
0 0 ß
A .

o . '.
300 -
oo o
200 -

-1(5
s _ld6 io-7 id6 1(7
5
Rekz (m
'1) rmkz (rr[
I)
Fig. 9. Verticalprofilesof the real part and the imaginarypart of the verticalcomponentof the propagationvector.
Computationswerecarriedout by includingviscosityonly (squares),or thermalconductivityonly (triangles),or ion drag
only(circles),or all threedissipative
processes (solidline),or noneof the dis.
sipativeprocesses
(dashedline).The dotted
line showsthe height dependenceof the term 1/2H. [From Klostermeyer,1972c].
 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITYWAVES 205

propagatinghorizontallywith energyconcentratednear the guided modes for acoustic-gravitywaves in a model at-

temperaturediscontinuity.Theseare two examplesof guided mospherewith realistic dissipations.The model is basically
acoustic-gravitymodes.In a realisticatmosphere,many more the Cira (1965) mean atmosphere.Figure 10 showssome of
guidedmodescan exist. Pressand Harkrider [1962], Pfeifer the computedmodes.In general,thesecurvesfall into several
and Zarichny [1963], and Harkrider and Wells [1968] com- categories:a fundamentalmode(F), a seriesof gravity modes
putedthe propertiesof the fully ductedmodesin a lossless at- (G,), a seriesof acousticmodes(Ai), and a seriesof lower at-
mosphere.Friedman[1966] and Tolstoyand Pan [1970] com- mospheremodes(Lt). In the figure the horizontal attenuation
putedthe imperfectlyductedmodes.They haveindicatedthat distances
Ilm kxl-• for variousmodesare shownasfunctions
in the absenceof dissipation,the structureof the spectrumof of the wave period. The long-periodgravity modesare all
modesdependson the upperboundarycondition(whetherit relatively nondispersive.Their time-averagedpower is con-
centratedaroundthe steeptemperaturegradientat the baseof
is a free surface,rigid surface,or radiationcondition).Francis
[1973a] has shown that the presenceof strong upper at- the thermosphere. The ducting mechanism for them is
mospheric dissipation canresolve thisambiguity. Th6reason basicallythe same as that for the surface wave along the
is that strong dissipationprohibits reflectionat the upper temperaturediscontinuitydiscussedearlier. The attenuation
boundary.Thereforeany reasonableupper boundarycondi- distancefor the gravity mode is alwayssmallerthan that for
tion that requiresa down-goingwave at the top of the at- the other modes.The two lower atmospheremodesare essen-
mosphereto be small shouldyield the correct solution. tially a generalizedLamb mode (L0) and a mesospherically
The solutionfor the guidedmodesin a realisticatmosphere ductedmode(L•). The attenuationdistancefor someof these
can be carriedout in quite the sameway as describedin the modescan be very long, up to many times the circumference
previoussectionfor full wavecalculation.The additionalre- of the earth. The short-periodacousticmodesare primarily
quirementsare the boundaryconditions.The atmosphereis ducted in the lower and upper sound channelsof the at-
againdividedinto thin layers.For a given•0 and horizontal mosphere[Pfeifer and Zarichny, 1963].The attenuationdis-
wave numberkh, the eigenvalues kz are computedfor each tancesvary as functionsof period. In general,they are greater
characteristicmode.In the firstlayernextto the lowerbound- than those for gravity modes. More detailed discussionon
ary at the surfaceof the earth, the characteristicwavesmust these guided modes can be found in the paper by Francis
be chosento satisfythe boundarycondition.New eigenvalues [1973a].
and characteristicwavesare computedfor the next layer.'The
wavesare matchedat the interfaceaccordingto the interfacial D. INTERACTION OF INTERNAL WAVES
conditions.The computationis repeateduntil we reachthe WITH THE IONOSPHERE
upper boundary.At this point, the down-goingwave must
havezeroamplitude.If thisamplitudeis nonzero,the valueof In the past few chapterswe have discussed possiblewave
ks mustbe adjustedso as to eliminatethis down-goingwave. motions that can be sustained in the atmosphere. The
Each value of ks correspondsto one guided mode. ionosphereis ignored almost entirely except perhapsin its
Using this technique,Francis[1973a]studiedthe various effecton wave dampingthroughion drag. The concernof the

107-
AI F /'• _..• _
•oo
106 •o

16,000
- ¬,
J!/ !!1i ../-
I0,000 _ i/ I I I ; :'3 / _

-_,/ iil ',l!/

5000 ii ',,,/ _
i

2000 i • /'• I / ./ - 1/16

li, / /" ../
: • •L• I / ./ / 1/32
I000 - !1 / ///" -
- i I \\ / _/'/"
500 - I /-/...x" - 1/64
\
300 ILo \.. ../"
0.5 i 2 5 I0 20 30 60 120

PERIOD (minutes)
Fig. 10. Plotshowing theattenuation
distance
asa functionof periodforguidedmodes in a meanmodelatmosphere.
Thesecurvesfall intoseveral
categories:
a fundamental
mode(F), a series
of gravitymodes(G,),a series
of acoustic
modes
(AJ, and a seriesof lower atmospheremodes(LJ. [From Francis,1973a.]
206 YEH_AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITYWAVES
present chapter is to investigate the response of the
ionosphereto propagating acoustic-gravitywaves.
The ionization density in the ionosphere obeys the con-
tinuity equation [Ratcliffe, 1960;Rishbethand Garriott, 1969]
•9N/•t = Q - L - M (81)
whereN is the electrondensity,Q is the rate of productionper
unit volume, L is the rate of loss per unit volume due to
chemicalprocesses,and M is the transport term. A careful
analysisof gravity-wave-inducedperturbationsin Q, L, and
M has been carried out by Hooke [1968]. The conclusionis
that the perturbationsin Q are unimportantexceptwhen the
solar ionization rays are nearly in alignment with the wave
front. Further, perturbationsin L that may be important in
the lower F region are found to be unimportant in the F•.
region. Therefore as far as the F•. region is concerned, the
most important gravity-wave-inducedperturbation occursin
M. The transport term is composedof two terms, the diffu-
sion term Ma and the wave-induced term Mw. Since the ion
gyrofrequencyis much higher than both the ion neutral
collisional frequency and the wave frequency, the charged
particlescan moveonly alongthe magneticfield lines.Let the
•' axis be parallel to the magneticfield; then the diffusionterm
takes the form [e.g., Rishbethand Garriott, 1969]
02N(OD,,
M•= divNv•= Da•-+ •- + G) •ON OG
+ •- N
(82)
where Da is the ambipolar diffusioncoefficientand G depends
on gravity, temperature gradients, and ion-neutral collision
frequency.For an expressionof G, the reader is referred to
Clark et al. [1971]. The wave-inducedmotion term is givenby
M• = div Nv• (83)
Under steady state conditions the ionization velocity v• in
responseto neutral atmospheric motion has been studied
[MacLeo& 1966]. When the ion gyrofrequencyis muchlarger
than the ion-neutral collisionfrequency,suchas in the casein
the F•. region, it reducesto
v• = v"/?0/•0 (84)
In the following sectionswe discussvarious wave-induced
ionosphericeffects.
1. Wave-Associated
Dynamic Effect on the Ionosphere
The wave-associateddynamic effect on the ionosphere
comesfrom 'Mw given by (83). If the perturbationis small, we
mayassume
N = No(z)+ N'(r) with IN'l << IN01,Thenthe
linearized equation for N' can be solved to give
N '= (1/•o)v"•0/)0.(k- i9••9/•9z)No (85)
where (84) has been substituted for v, and where the
dependenceexp [i(k.r - wt)] has beenassumedfor perturbed
quantities. The properties of (85) have been thoroughly
studiedby Hooke [1970a].The ionosphericresponseis shown
to be highlyanisotropic.For simplicity,let usspecializeto the
ionosphericpeak at which •9No/•9zvanishesand then (85)
reduces to
m'/mo= (v'/v•,).t•o•o.• (86)
wherek = k/k andv•,= a•/k, whichisthephasevelocity.It is
interesting to note that for certain waves for which either
v'.Bo = 0 or Bo.k = 0, the ionosphericdensityat the peak is
unperturbed.By assumingthe Boussinesq approximation,the
conditionsfor the absenceof ionosphericresponseat the peak
can be found. The resultsare shown in Figure 11. The direc-
tional and frequencyfiltering by ionosphericresponseproc-
esses is obvious.
Another point worth mentioning is the possibilitythat the
ionospheremay be in relative motion with respectto the
neutral atmosphere.The presenceof relative horizontal mo-
tion can be taken into accountby replacing•oin (85) by •o' =
•o - k'v,0, where a• is the wave frequency in the frame of
neutral atmosphereand v•0is the horizontal velocity of the
ionosphere relative to the neutral atmosphere. When the
ionospheredrifts with a velocityequalto the phasevelocityof
the wave, the Doppler-shifted frequency•o' vanishes.Conse-
quently, according to (85), the ionization perturbation
becomes infinite. This is called spatial resonance by
Whitehead[1971]. In practice, however, other effectssuchas
diffusion and nonlinear effects are expected to limit the
growth in N' to a large but finite value.
In someexperimental
investigations
theelectrondensityin-
tegrated along a radio ray path from the satellite to the
groundobserveris measured.
This integratedelectrondensity
will also be perturbed becauseof ionosphericresponseto
acoustic-gravitywaves. This problem has been studied by
severalinvestigators[Georgesand Hooke, 1970; Yeh, 1972;
Davis, 1973].
2. Wave-AssociatedTransportEffect on the Ionosphere
In the upper ionospheric F•. region the diffusion may be
very rapid. Its effect on ionospheric response.to acoustic-
15
I0
1=80 ø
6 I = I0 ø
40 ø
70 ø
0o 30 ø 60 ø 90 ø I;•0 ø 150ø 180 ø
Azimuthal Angle
Fig. 11. Plot showingperiod and asimuthal direction of internal
gravity wavesunder the Boussinesqapproximationthat will not give
riseto any ionosphericresponseat the peak, aswaspredictedby equa-
tion 85. Azimuthal angle is measuredeastward from the magnetic
north, and I is the magneticdip angle. The curvesare symmetrical
about 0 ø azimuth. For curvesin the azimuthal range -90 ø to 90ø, the
absenceof ionosphericresponsecomesabout becausev'.Bo = O,
whereasfor those in the range 90ø to 270ø, it comesabout because
k'•0 = 0.
 YEH AND Liu' UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
gravity wavescan be examinedby includingthe diffusionterm
approximately.For plane waves,(85) is modifiedto become
N' = (w + iDakB•-)-'v'.•o•o.(k- i• O/Oz)No (87)
wherekB = k'Bo.Inspection
of (87) showsthat theeffectof
diffusion is to introduce a phase shift from that due to
dynamic effect alone [Cunnold, 1967]. Taking D, = 2.1 X 10
m2/s and ka = 3 X 10-5 m -•, we obtain D,ka • • 2 X 10-8 s-•.
The diffusionterm can be ignoredonly for thosewaveswith
w •> 10D,ka:, whichcorresponds
to waveswith periodsless
than about 5 min.
The importanceof diffusionhas alsobeendemonstratedby
numericalcomputations[Clark et al., 1971]. Experimentally,
it has also been found that better agreementcan be achieved
by including the diffusion term, as is shown in Figure 12
[Testudand Franqois, 1971].
3. Wave-AssociatedPhotochemicalEffect on the Ionosphere
In the lower F region, both photoionization and chemical
processesmay play important roles in controlling the
behavior of the ionosphere.The presenceof acoustic-gravity
waveswill influencethe ionizationrate throughchangesin the
local neutral density and through changesin the ionization
radiationabsorption.Perturbationsin the neutralatmosphere
also cause perturbations in chemical processes. These
problemshave been consideredby Hooke [1970b, c]. These
effectsare important in the lower F region.
4. Interaction With a Realistic Ionosphere
In severalof the previoussectionswe have discussed
proc-
esses involved in the interaction of internal waves with the
ionosphere.Theseprocesses, if all are included,would make
the problem fairly complex.In order to computeionization
perturbations realistically we must first compute neutral
acoustic-gravity-wave perturbations realistically. The
propagation of acoustic-gravity waves in a realistic at-
4OO
350
300
250
200
N'/NO inpercent
Fig. 12. Comparisonof percent ionization densityperturbations
between those observedexperimentallyby the incoherent scatter
techniqueon September 13, 1967 (shown with error bars), and those
computedtheoretically. The dashed linc includesonly the dynamic
effect,whereasthe solid linc includesadditionally the diffusioneffect.
[From Testudand Franqois,1971.]
WAVES 207
mospherehas been discussedin chapterC. The problem can
be solvedby the coupledequation formulation by usingone
of several multilayer approaches [Hines and Reddy, 1967;
Volland,1969b;Clark et al., 1970;Klostermeyer,1972a].After
obtaining these first-order wave-associatedperturbationsin
the neutral atmosphere,the ionosphericresponsecan be com-
puted by solving the equation of continuity either in its
original form (81) [Clark et al., 1971] or in the linearized ver-
sion[Thorne
andRao,1969;Klostermeyer,
1972a,
b].
Figure 13 shows the isoionic contours numerically com-
puted by solving the continuity equation (solid lines) com-
pared with those that result when the only effect included is
the wave-associateddynamicsin the directedvelocity (dotted
lines).
E. EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE UPPER
ATMOSPHERE AND IONOSPHERE
The experimental evidence for the existenceof acoustic-
gravity wavesin the upper atmosphereis rather indirect, since
it is mainly inferred by observationsof traveling ionospheric
disturbances.In many cases,a correct and unambiguousin-
terpretation of the experimentaldata may not be possible.
This is becausethe wave processdealswith space-timefields.
In order to completelydescribeit, one has to monitor all per-
turbed quantities with sut'ficientresolution in space and in
time. On a geophysicalscale,sucha monitoring program will
be very difficult and costly. Some of theseproblemsare dis-
cussedby Lindzen [1969].
1. Survey of Experimental Techniques
There have been many techniquesused to detect traveling
waves in the lower thermosphereand ionosphere.It is im-
possibleto discussthe merits of each of thesetechniquesin
this article. In Table 2 and Table 3 we merely list some
referenceswhere these techniques as well as experimental
results are discussed.Table 2 lists those experimental tech-
niques that essentiallyrespond to wave fields in the neutral
560
1,,•-z-,•
• •/•'•
•..• '•. • // -%--.x /•,,,,-•,,x •
• -
80 I I I I I I I
1706 1715 1724 1733 1742 1751 1800
LOCAL TIME
Fig. 13. Isoionic contours in responseto an internal gravity wave
with k• = 0.02 km-• and T = 20 rain, propagatingcastward.The con-
tours arc given in units of 10n m -a. Dotted lines arc the contours
computed by including only the directed velocity; the solid lines, by
solvingthe continuity equation. [From C/ark eta/., 1971.]
208 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES

TABLE 2. Experimental TechniquesThat EssentiallyRespond to 3. Generationby Magnetic-Storm-RelatedEvents

Wave Fields in the Neutral Atmosphere
Numerous experiments have suggestedthe connection
ExperimentalTechnique Reference betweenmagnetic activities in the auroral zone and the oc-
currenceof traveling disturbancesat the middle- and low-
Long-enduringvisualmeteortrails Liller andWhipple[1954] latitude ionosphere[e.g., Valverde, 1958; Chan and Villard,
Meteor radar Manningetal. [ 1954],Greenhowand
Neufeld[ 1959],RevahandSpizz- 1962;Bowman, 1965; Georges,1968b; Thome, 1968]. There is
ichino[1964],andRevah[1969] evidence to indicate that the source of these disturbances is in
Chemical luminescent trails Kochanski[ 1964] the evening sector of the auroral oval [Davis, 1971]. The
Noctilucent cloud waves Witt[1962] observeddisturbancesare usuallycalledthe large-scaledistur-
In situ measurements Newtonetal. [1969]andDysonetal.
bances according to the classificationscheme of Georges
[1970]
FM/CW radar observations Gossardetal.[1970] [1968b].Theselarge-scaledisturbanceshave periodsvarying
from 30 min to several hours, some being as high as 10 h
[Alcaydket al., 1972].The horizontalwavefrontsmay extend
atmosphere; Table 3 liststhoseexperimentaltechniquesthat several thousand kilometers in the east-west direction and
are essentiallymeasurementson the ionization. travel southward in the northern hemispherewith horizontal
2. Generationby ImpulseSources velocities
in the range400-700m?s.Many of thesedistur-
bancestravel about a quarter of the way around the globe.In
Probably the most stringent test of the acoustic-gravity many cases,the shapeof the wavetrain is preservedevenafter
theory is to subject its theoretical predictions to an ex- travelinga distanceof 1000 km. An exampleis shownin
perimental verification from a known source. In the at- Figure 15. Some investigators have ascribed their obser-
mospherethe experimentthat comesclosestto this require- vations to free waves [Georges,1968b; Testudand Vasseur,
mentis probablythat associated with the atmosphericnuclear 1969],whereasthere are othersin favor of a guidedwave in-
detonations. Many observations have shown major terpretation [Friedman,1966; Francis, 1973a]. Recent com-
ionospheric responses followingnuclearexplosionsin the at- prehensivecomputationsof Francis [1973a] suggestthat all
mosphere[Diemingerand Kohl, 1962;Obayashi,1962; Webb observedpropertiesof large-scaletravelingdisturbancescan
and Daniels, 1964; Wickersham, 1966;Kanellakos, 1967;Albee beexplained
by theguidedwavetheory.Theseproperties
in-
and Kanellakos,1968]. Attempts have been made to explain cludethe near sonicvelocityof travel, an attenuationdistance
the surfaceobservationsin termsof guidedmodes(seereview of the order one eighth the terrestrialcircumference,and the
byDonnandShaw[1967]). Mostofthese surfaceobservationstilt of the phasefront. As was discussedin chapterC, the up-
showa periodof theorderof severalminutes.However,in the per atmospherecan be roughly describedas a warm ther-
ionosphere,oscillationsof tensof minutesto hourshave been mosphereon top of a cool lower atmosphere.The guided
observed.Further, the oscillationperiod is observedto de- modein suchan atmospherehasenergyconfinedmainly near
pend linearly on the distanced of the observerfrom the the temperaturediscontinuity(see Figure 5). Sinceactivities
groundzero. A well-knownexampleis depictedin Figure 14, associatedwith auroral events are taking place near this
which showsoscillationsin the ionosphericcritical frequency temperaturediscontinuity,there shouldbe no difficultyfor
foF2 at five observatoriesfollowingthe Sovietnucleardetona- theseactivities tOdeposittheenergyin theguidedwavefield
tion of October 30, 1961, at Novaya Zemlya. An explanation and then to be propagated away.
of the oscillationperiod dependenceon distancebasedon Suggestionshave been made that acoustic-gravitywaves
acoustic-gravity-wave
theoryhasbeenmadebyHines [1967] may be generatedby a supersonicdisplacementof auroral
and Row [1967].As wasshownin sectionB.7, the asymptotic arcsthroughLorentz force [Wilson, 1969]or the Jouleheating
responsein a losslessisothermalatmosphereto a stationary associatedwith the suddensurgeof auroral electrojetcurrents
impulse sourcecan be describedas the emissionof three [Davisandda Rosa,1969].Recenttheoreticalwork [Chimonas
waves[Liu and Yeh, 1971]'the acousticwave,whicharrivesat and Hines, 1970b;Chimonasand Peltier, 1970] has shownthat
the observerfirst,the buoyancywave,whichis shortlivedand suchwavescan be generatedby either of the two mechanisms
weak, and the gravity wave, which is long lasting. Asymp- given above. But it should be mentionedthat for theoretical
totically, the gravity wave with frequencyo•cwill be the only
oneremaining.
We notethatSince
o•c= o•oz/R• o•oz/d,
the
oscillationperiod T = 2•r/o• is theoreticallyexpectedto be TABLE 3. ExperimentalTechniquesThat Are EssentiallyMeasure-
ments on the Ionization
directlyproportionalto d, sincethe variationof ionospheric
height z is very small. The behavior T cr d is exactly the ExperimentalTechnique Reference
behaviorobservedexperimentally,as is shownin Figure 14.
Hence the correctnessof the theory has receivedstrong sup- Virtual heightversustime data Munro[1950,1958],Toman[1955],
port. The use of plane geometriesin the theory to explain and Gossard[ 1967, 1969]
Ionosonde observations Heisler[ 1958],BakerandGledhill
gravitywaveobservations on a sphericalearthcanbejustified [ 1965],andKlostermeyer[1969]
by notingthat the earth'scurvatureis nearlycompensated by H F backscattersounding IZalverde[ 1958]andHunsuckerand
the refraction of the gravity wave ray causedby changing Tveten[ 1967]
direction of the earth's gravity [Francis, 1972]. Direction of arrival data Bramley[ 1953]andDetert [ 1965]
We note that a wave with o• = •o• satisfiesthe asymptotic ObliqueincidenceDoppler ChanandViilard[ 1962]
Vertical incidenceDoppler Davies[1962]andGeorges1968b]
relation(23) whosedispersionrelation appliesto a Boussinesq Electron content from a low Rao and Yeh [1968], Rao et al.
fluid with o•2 << o• 2. In this limit, the horizontal group orbiting satellite [1969],andLiszka [1971]
velocity and the horizontal phasevelocity are equal. Electron content from ageo- DavisanddaRosa [ 1969],Cowlinget
Other examples of impulsive sources are earthquakes stationarysatellite al. [1970],andSchiOdel
[1972]
Incoherentscattersounding Thorne[ 1964],Testudand Vasseur
[Leonard and Barnes, 1965; Davies and Baker, 1965; Row,
[1969],andEvanset al. [1970]
1967] and possiblyimpact created by great meteors.
 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES 209

130m/s
ßTIME
OF
THE
I-4MAXIMUM
/
OF F2 IONIZATION
OBSERVED AT DIFFERENT
17 X STATIONS
TIME OF FIRST
INDICATION
OFTHE / ! 170m/s
16 DISTURBANCE
ON •'ß •' T

15
IONOGRAMS
! /3 /
260m/s
14-

12- /ß/ e••m•

ß 450m/s
6e•
4
ELE IO

4m• •,
21 , , , , , i i i ,•,
EXPLOSIONa: • •

08 I0 12 14 16 0 I000 20• 50• 4000

MET km
(•) (b)
Fig. 14. Ionospheric responseto the Soviet nuclear detonation at Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961.
[From Row, 1967.]

conveniencean isothermal atmospherewas assumedby these and Jones,1971]. Many reported observationsseemto satisfy
authors. This assumptioneffectivelyremovesguided waves the dispersionrelation for a Boussinesqfluid [Chang, 1972;
from consideration. Dauiesand Jones,1971]. This experimentalevidencesuggests
that someof thesewavesare generatedby sourceswith a wide
4. Responseto Seismic Waues
frequency spectrum, such as an impulsive source. It also
Earthquakesare known to excite seismicwaves,which may suggeststhat the gravity waves responsiblefor excitation of
in turn generate atmospheric waves through continuous traveling disturbancesare free waves, in agreementwith re-
coupling [Liu and Yeh, 1972]. Sincethe Rayleigh wave travels cent calculationsby Francis [1973b].
at a velocitymuch fasterthan the atmosphericsoundvelocity, Unlike the large-scaletravelingdisturbances,which usually
the atmosphericwave is launched at a very steep angle. The travel equatorward away from the auroral zone, the medium-
excited wave usually belongs to the acoustic branch. scaletraveling disturbancesmay travel in any direction. The
Numerically, a Rayleighwave of period 25 s, speed3.9 kin/s, peculiar daytime directional data are very interesting.Both
and peak-to-peak vertical ground displacement5 mm will the southernhemispheredata [Munro, 1958]and the northern
give rise to a vertical air parcel velocityof 30 m/s at 150-km hemispheredata [Dauiesand Jones, 1971] show that the dis-
height.Sucha velocitywill produceeffectsthat are susceptible turbances on the average travel equatorward in the local
to experimental measurements. winter and poleward in the local summer.The seasonalswitch
The experimental evidence to support the excitation of in direction is through the westward direction during the
acoustic waves by seismicwaves is shown in Figure 16. A equinoxesin the northern hemisphereand through the east-
three-component very long period seismograph system ward direction in the southern hemisphere.There does not
located at Oahu, Hawaii, recorded data following an earth- appear to be any satisfactoryexplanation for this directional
quake at Hachinoke, Japan. On the figure, the R• window behavior.
marks the time interval during which only the Rayleigh com- Recently, several investigators have carried out spectral
ponent of the seismicwave was important. Simultaneously, analyses of various data [Tolstoy and Montes, 1971;
an HF Doppler recorder at Honolulu recorded ionospheric Titheridge, 1971a;SchtSdel,1972; Dauies et al., 1973; Gupta et
motionsat a 300-km height.As is shownin Figure 16, a good al., 1973;Setty et al., 1973]. When analysesare done this way,
correlation is obtained if the two records are displacedin there often exist severalfairly sharp lines showingthe quasi-
time. The time differenceagreesvery well with the propaga- periodic nature of the medium-scaletraveling disturbances.
tion time required for both the Rayleigh wave and the Superimposedon these sharp lines is the background spec-
acoustic wave [Yuen et al., 1969]. trum, which is usually above noise and is statisticallymean-
ingful. It representsthe presenceof random fluctuations of
5. Propertiesof Medium-Scale Trat;elingDisturbances the gravity wave field [Georges,1968b]. Several features on
By far the most persistenttraveling ionospheric distur- the backgroundgravity spectrumare (1) the high-frequency
bances are those of medium scale. Most of these disturbances cutoff near •o• due to loss process (see Figure 6), (2) the
appear as a train of quasi-periodicoscillationswith a period gradual low-frequencycutoff at about 60-100 min due to the
centered at about 20-30 min, a horizontal scale of 100-200 loss process(see Figure 6), and (3) a spectra bit-out due to
km, a speedof about 100-200 m/s, and a negativewave front gravity wave and ionosphereinteraction discussedin chapter
tilt in the direction of propagation of about -40 ø + 10ø D (see Figure 11).
[Munro, 1958; Tueten, 1961; Chan and Villard, 1962; Dauies At times, a straightforward interpretation of high-fre-
210 YEH AND LIU: UPPERATMOSPHERE
ACOUSTIC-GRAVITY
WAVES

6. Short-Period Disturbances
i

JUNE
1967 i
I

I
Theseare infrasonicwaves.A comprehensivereviewon this
subjecthas been prepared by Davies and Jones[1972b].The
relation betweenthe ionosphericobservationsand the ground
infrasound pressurewaves has been reviewed by Georges
[1973].
In the auroral zone the infrasound has also been detected
and related to moving auroral electrøjets [Wilson, 1969;

,, Liszka and Westin,1972].Other sourcesof acousticwavesare

earthquakes[Daviesand Baker, 1965] and ground level ex-
plosions[Barryet al., 1966].A fairly completebibliographyon
infrasonicwaveshas beencompiledby Thomaset al. [1971].

7. The Role of A coustic-Grat)ityWaves

I in Thermospheri'c
Dynamics
I
At present,the totality of experimentalevidencesupports
stronglythe existenceof acoustic-gravitywavesin the upper
atmosphere, although we must 'also realize that the at-
mosphere
andionosphere
can'support
otherwaves.
Asthese
I acoustic-gravitywavespropagateaway from the source,they
carry with them both momentum and energy,which may be
transferredto the backgroundatmospherethrough interac-
tions. The interaction is especiallystrong near the critical
layer at which the backgroundwind velocity matchesthe
'
i
i horizontal phasevelocity [Bookerand Bretherton,1967]. It
i
PST
has been speculatedthat the interesting phenomenon of
quasi-biennialoscillationin the tropical stratospheremay be
Fig. 15. Large-scale traveling disturbances observed at four
locationson a magneticallydisturbedday. Slant electroncontentfluc-
causedby sucha process[Lindzen,1968;Lindzenand Holton,
tuations are obtained by digital filtering of the Faraday rotation data. 1968]. However, the interaction is not restrictedto the critical
The separationbetweenEly and San Diego is about 700 km in th6 layer;the wave-dampingprocesses may alsotransfermomen-
geomagneticnorth-south direction and that between Flagstaff and tum and energy from the wave to the background at-
Stanford is about 900 km in the geomagneticeast-westdirection.Note mosphere.Theoretical investigationshave shown [Lindzen,
the similarity and time displacementof wave forms. [From Davis and
da•Rosa, 1969.]
1970, 1971; Lindzen and Blake, 1971] that the semidiurnal
tidesmay contributesignificantlyto the heatingof the upper
atmosphere,althoughthe desiredsecondheat sourcebased
on incoherent scatter results has a diurnal behavior different
quencycutoff as beingnear •o•will lead to an unacceptable from that predictedtheoretically[Vollandand Mayr, 1972a,
thermospherictemperature.In this case,it,is hypothesized b,c].
[Davieset al., 1973;Guptaet al., 1973]that the cutoffhasbeen In the acoustic-gravity-wavespectrum the calculations
Doppler shifted by neutral winds (for a review on neutral deducedfrom radiosondeobservationsup to a heightof 4 km
winds,seeRishbeth[1972]).Observationally,windshavebeen showthat there is appreciableleakageof energyinto the up-
found necessaryin order to interpret waveswith a frequency
less than the buoyancy period but with gravity wave
characteristics[Daviesand Jones, 1972a]. I0 MHz DOPPLER
0124 0125 0126 0127 0128 0129 0130 0131 0132 UT
As was discussedin sectionB.3, the strong thermospheric I I I I I I I 1 I

windsmay act as a directionalfilter that would permit waves 16 MAY 1968

propagatingin a certaindirectionto reachthe ionospheric
height[Cowlinget al., 1971].By usingthe theoreticallycom-
/ \
putedtime-dependent wind modelof Choand Yeh [1970],in-
ternal gravity wavesof period 30 min and horizontal phase
speed150 m/s are tracedfrom the groundto a heightof 300
.,,
'•
I•
[• // xx
x
km. The time required for thesewavesto reachthe 300-km
heightis shownas contoursin hoursin Figure 17 [Yehet al.,
1972]. Observationaldata points of Munro [1958] are also
plotted on the figure. As seen from the figure, most of
\x.//
E-W COMPONENT
the observedwavesappearnear contoursof minimumtravel I I SEISMOGRAM
time. R• WINDOW WEST MOTIONUPWARD
--- I0 MHz DOPPLER
Even thoughthe medium-scaletravelingdisturbances
occur
almostdaily, their excitationmechanismand the nature of I
0114
I
0115
I
0116
I
0117
I
0118
I
0119
, i
0120 UT
their sourcesare still unknown. Most investigatorsturn their E-W COMPONENT SEISMOGRAM
attentionto potentiallyimportantmeteorological
causes
such
Fig. 16. Comparison of the long-period scismogramdata ob-
as mountain waves, weather fronts [Uccellini, 1973], in- tained at Oahu and the Doppler data recordedat Honolulu of 10-
stabilitiesor distortionsof jet streams[Goe, 1971],and severe MHz transmissionsfrom station WWVH. The time displacement
storms. between these two records is 10.5 min. [From Yuen eta/., 1969.]
 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITYWAVES
27O':' 2.5
180
ø
< 90ø ß
5.0
0ø
O0 04 08 12 16 20
Local time of observation at a height of 300km
Fig. 17. Contours showing the number of' hours required for
gravity wavesto reach a height of 300 km. Shadedregionsindicate
asymptotic trapping (horizontal hatching) or reflection (vertical
hatching).The periodof`the waveis 30 min, and the horizontalphase
speedis 150m/s. The data points(crosses) are Munro's[1958]obser-
vational values. [From Yeh et al., 1972.]
per atmosphereof the order of 0.02 J/m 2 s during quiet days,
0.1 J/m 2 s during stormsor the passageof a frontal system,
and as high as 1 J/m 2 s for a few times in a year [Gossard,
1962]. The calculated spectral window extendsfrom 0.14 to
1.6 mHz (or 10 min to 2 h in period) with a maximum leakage
from 12 to 20 min. Even for quiet days, the flux representsa
heat source of 2 X 10-7 J/m 8 s if we assume that the wave
energyi• dissipated
uniformlyover a 100-kmthick at-
mosphere.The solar EUV heat source[Volland, 1969c]has a
maximum of 4.5 X 10-•ø J/m 8 s in the upper atmosphere.A
comparisonof thesetwo numberswould indicate the poten-
tial of gravity wavesas a heat sourcein the upper atmosphere.
Of course,only a very small portion of the leaked acoustic-
gravity waveswill reach the F regionheights.Hines [1965] es-
timated that 50% of the time, an energyflux of 10-4 J/m: s will
reachF region heights.On the basisof actual measurements,
many observedtraveling ionosphericdisturbanceshave been
interpretedas supplyinga heat input of 10-•ø J/m a s to the F
region atmosphere[Testud, 1970; Yeh, 1972]. Depending on
the length over which such a heat source is acting, the ther-
mospherictemperature may increaseby 40ø-80øK [Kloster-
meyer, 1973].
The wave-associatedtransport of heat is not restrictedto
the vertical direction alone; there may also exist horizontal
transport. Satellite drag data have shown an increasein ex-
ospheric temperature following magnetic activity. The
temperatureincreasein middleand low latitudescomesonly a
few hoursafter the storm, a time too short to be explainedby
molecular diffusion. T. Gold in a private communication to
Hines [1965] suggestedthat the spread of heat from the
auroral region to lower latitudeswas causedby wave dissipa-
tion. Calculations by Klostermeyer [1973] tend to support
Gold's suggestion.
We mentionedearlier that acoustic-gravitywavescarry not
only energy but also momentum. As these waves are being
dissipated, they deposit a part of their momentum in the
backgroundflow [Hines, 1972]. The average vertical flow of
horizontal momentum associated with the wave
poV•,'t•z'*/2,where the complex notation is used. The expres-
sion is especially simple for a low-frequency wave in the
Boussinesqfluid in which vz' = •,'o½/o½b - t•,'Tb/T. When this
assumptionis made, the vertical flux of horizontal momen-
tum reducesto poV•,':To/2T.In an inviscid atmospherethis
vertical flux is constant, as expected. The presenceof dis-
sipativeprocesseswill make this flux decaywith height. For
estimation purposes, let the wave be dissipatedcompletely
over a height range h; then this wave flux must be transferred
to the background flow in the amount p0hb0,where b0is the
211
time rate of changeof the horizontal flow. Equating thesetwo
fluxes producesthe formula [Hines, 1972]
bo = v•,':ro/2rh (88)
Numerically, Hines took vh' = 100 m/s, To = 5 min, T = 200
min, and h = 6.5 km. The use of (88) yields b0= 70 m/s/h, a
value that points out the potential importanceof this process
24
in generatingwinds in the upper atmosphere.Indeed, Hines
suggestedthat the dissipationof semidiurnaltide might be the
mechanismresponsiblefor the observedsuperrotationof the
thermosphere.
The existenceof a random acoustic-gravityfield could alter
atmospheric properties in many respects. The expected
changescome about through wave-induced processesthat
affect (1) transport coefficients, (2)chemical reaction
coefficients,and (3) increased damping of other acoustic-
gravity waves. Hoult [1968] has derived an expressionfor the
diffusion coefficient due to vertically propagating random
acousticwaves in an isothermal atmosphere.The enhanced
diffusion may alter the atmosphericcompositionabove the
height at which the diffusive separationtakes place. This im-
plies a changeof chemical reaction coefficients.King [1966,
1967] has hypothesized that the storm-related random
acousticwaves were responsiblefor the enhancedmixing in
order to explain the decreasein observed ionization follow-
ing magnetic activities. The presenceof random fields will
also give rise to attenuation of coherent acoustic-gravity
waves. This attenuation comes about because of randomiza-
tion of the coherentwave through scattering.This effect has
been consideredby Liu [1970] and Wenzeland Keller [1971].
F. CONCLUSION
In the past chapterswe have reviewedthe recenttheoretical
work on propagation and generation of acoustic-gravity
wavesand the experimentalresultsthat supportthe existence
of such waves in the upper atmosphere. Because of the
presenceof the ground and the large temperaturegradient in
thelowerthermosphere,the atmosphere,is capableof support-
ing guided modesas well as free waves.The free waveshave a
continuous spectrum, a real horizontal and vertical wave
number, and a wave energy independentof height in the in-
viscidpart of the atmosphere.On the other hand, the guided
waveshave a complicateddiscretespectrumand a complex
horizontal and vertical wave number;thusattenuationby loss
processes and by energy leakage to the thermosphereis im-
plied. The wave energy of such guided modes is confined
either near the ground or near the height of the large
temperature gradient. At present, our understanding of
propagation effects of these waves is fairly complete.
However, in order to predict theoreticallythe outcome of a
wave in the thermosphereit is necessaryto prescribecom-
pletely the atmosphereen route. This includes not only
temperature, density, and composition but also the three-
is Re dimensional wind vector.
Several processesare involved in the interaction between
acoustic-gravitywavesand the ionosphere.The physicsof the
interaction processesseems to be well understood. But a
quantitative prediction still requires numerical computation.
Most of the experimental data comes from observations of
traveling disturbances in the ionosphere. Experimental
evidenceindicates that these disturbancesare excited by the
propagating acoustic-gravity waves.
Even though we understandthe propagation effectsand the
processesinvolved in the interaction with the ionosphere,we
 212 YEH AND LIU: UPPER ATMOSPHEREACOUSTIC-GRAVITY WAVES

still do not know preciselythe mechanism

responsiblefor the vestigated in connection with water waves. It should be
creation of acoustic-gravitywaves.Theoreticalstudieshave mentioned that there is a large class of nonlinear waves.
beencarriedout by assumingthe atmosphere to be either Experimentalidentificationand theoretical interpretation
isothermalor inviscidor both. The isothermalassumption of observednonlinearwaveswill be a major task.
removesfrom considerationthe possibilityof excitingguided The acoustic-gravity-wavespectrumis an importantpartof
modes,whereasan assumedad hoc upper boundarycon- the dynamicspectrumin the upper atmosphere.Its un-
dition, suchas that necessary
in an inviscidatmosphere,is derstanding
is crucialto a completeunderstanding
of ther-
both ambiguousand unrealistic.Experimentalobservations mosphericdynamics.
indicatethat certainthunderstormcellsare responsible
for
generating acoustic waves and certain auroral events are Acknowledgments.Suggestions,comments,and criticismson the
initial draft havebeenreceivedfrom KennethDaviesof NOAA, S. H.
followedby large-scale
travelingdisturbances.
Buttheprecise Francis of Bell Laboratories,and J. Klostermeyerof Max-Planck
physical mechanismis still not known. As for the medium- Institutfiir Aeronomie; to themwe owedeepgratitudefor making
scalewaves,whichby far are the most frequentlyobserved suggestions and for clarifyingcertainknotty pointsto us.We would
waves, we do not even have hard evidence to relate them to alsolike to thankC. O. Hinesof the Universityof Toronto,O. P.
some causal events or mechanism. Nagpal of the Universityof Delhi, and A.D. Pierceof Georgia
Instituteof Technologyfor a readingof the manuscript.Richard
In all previousdiscussionsin this paperwe haveassumed DuBroffof the Universityof Illinoisassisted in checkingreferences.
implicitly that the wave-associatedperturbationsare small This researchwassupportedby the AtmosphericSciences Sectionof
enoughthat the linearizationprocedureis permitted.Onedis- the National ScienceFoundationunder grant GA 13723,the Air
tinctfeatureof the lineartheoryisthat it predictsan exponen- Force Cambridge ResearchLaboratoriesunder contractF19628-74-
C-0044,andthe NationalAeronauticsand SpaceAdministrationun-
tial heightgrowth for the perturbedpressure,density,and der grant NGR 14-005-002.
velocity.Suchgrowthcan go on until it is limitedby either
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