Waves in Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres

Abstract

First, a brief introduction to wave processes in nature is presented, summarizing basic wave parameters. The main types of atmospheric internal waves, such as gravity waves, solar tides, and Planetary (Rossby) waves, which can propagate upward in planetary atmospheres are described. In the lower atmosphere, observations provide increasing amount of data on the sources of these waves. In particular, small-scale gravity wave sources ought to be studied in more detail. Also, in the upper atmosphere gravity wave signatures are being continuously observed, suggesting a coupling between the lower and upper atmosphere. The effects of internal waves on the terrestrial and planetary atmospheres are then presented, focusing on the small-scale gravity waves generated in the lower atmosphere, in order to link lower atmospheric and upper atmospheric processes. General circulation modeling studies demonstrate that the dynamical and thermal effects of the small-scale gravity waves of lower atmospheric origin substantially contribute to vertical coupling in the atmosphere-ionosphere system.