A numerical study of nonlinear interactions between mean flow and breaking internal gravity waves

Abstract

Internal gravity waves are one of the important phenomena in understanding the general circulation as well as eddy motions in the atmosphere, particularly in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Therefore, in order to reproduce the middle atmospheric general circulation, it is necessary to incorporate vertically propagating internal gravity waves into general circulation models (GCMs). Results from numerical simulations on nonlinear interactions between mean flow and internal gravity waves are briefly presented.