Influence of Wave Propagation on the Doppler Spreading of Atmospheric Gravity Waves

Abstract

The ?Doppler spread? theory of atmospheric gravity waves has developed rapidly in recent years, from an initial theory of wave spectra into a general parameterization of gravity wave effects for use in global models of the middle atmosphere. Yet the theory currently employs certain key approximations that have still to be tested. The author focuses on the omission of the propagation of the other waves in the spectrum when determining the Doppler spreading of a given gravity wave. This approximation is shown to become untenable as waves are refracted to progressively shorter vertical scales, so ray methods are employed to investigate the refraction characteristics of short waves within propagating long-wave fields. Short-wave refraction is reduced compared to the Doppler-spread results. While turning levels are common, critical levels do not occur if all waves propagate upward in the absence of mean wind shear. Consequently, a sharp increase in the probability of wave obliteration beyond the so-called cutoff vertical wavenumber (a central tenet of Doppler-spread theory) no longer occurs. Possible implications of these results for models of wave?field interactions, spectra, and momentum deposition are discussed.