Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Hines, Colin O..
The theory of mountain waves is usually discussed for the case of a steady background wind. Here, the consequences of a superimposed diurnal (or other periodic) background wind variation are considered in outline. They are found to be sufficiently complicated as to warrant avoidance in detailed case studies. They include, however, the production of freely propagating waves and may be of interest on that account for other purposes.
There is currently much interest in fluctuations of airglow emissions caused by atmospheric gravity waves. The fluctuations of brightness tend to be found in phase (or occasionally in antiphase) with the fluctuations of measured temperature, whereas current theory tends to anticipate substantial phase differences. We suggest here that the discrepancy results from failure of the common theoretical assumption that the relevant gravity waves are dominated by a single upgoing component: that, instead, there is an accompanying downgoing component of comparable magnitude, produced by reflection. In the case of total reflection, simple, steady state chemistry and vertical viewing, the phase difference is necessarily zero (or 180 deg).