A Further Study of Gravity Wave Induced Drag and Diffusion in the Mesosphere

Abstract

Lindzen's parameterization for the drag and eddy diffusion produced by breaking internal gravity waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere is applied to a modified version of the ?-plane channel model of Holton in which an isotropic source spectrum of waves is specified similar to that given in 1982 by Matsuno. The transmission for each wave component is influenced by Newtonian cooling and by eddy diffusion induced by the breaking of other wave components. In general the waves with smallest Doppler-shifted phase speeds break first and produce sufficient eddy diffusion to significantly raise the breaking heights for the higher speed components. Thus, the wave drag and diffusion is spread through a deep layer and the resulting mean wind profiles for both summer and winter solstice conditions are more realistic than those computed previously by Holton.