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Aspects of Weather and Space Weather in the Earth's Upper Atmosphere The Role of Internal Atmospheric Waves (1997) / Chapter Skim
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A Wave-driven Refrigerator
Pages 19-21

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From page 19...
... How does this happen? This refrigeration process is now thought to be driven by the transport of momentum from the lower atmosphere to the upper atmosphere by exactly those waves of interest here, waves that propagate upward from the dense lower atmosphere, grow in amplitude, and eventually break in the mesosphere much like a water wave on a beach.
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From page 20...
... It will have some velocity with respect to the Earth, but if the wind speed at the same higher altitude is in the same direction as the wave, as far as air parcels are concerned, the wave will be Doppler shifted to lower frequency. If at some height the wind speed exactly equals the wave speed, the wave is Doppler shifted to zero and it simply vanishes like the smile on the Cheshire cat.
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From page 21...
... Wave reflection and decay HESS ~ Spectrum of gravity waves Meridional circulation warms ~ cools Winter \ / Summer FIGURE 19 The jet stream absorbs waves in one direction but allows them to pass in the opposite. This creates a net momentum source for atmospheric layers above it.
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Key Terms

  • momentum source
  • net momentum
  • jet stream
  • doppler shifted
  • wind speed

  • surf line
  • lower atmosphere
  • noctilucent clouds
  • directed waves
  • wave propagates

  • absorbs waves
  • waves simply
  • thermosphere warms
  • atmospheric layers
  • adiabatic cooling

  • propagate upward
  • propagates upward
  • atmosphere cools
  • wave dynamics
  • upper stratosphere

  • downward flow
  • waves observed
  • gravity wave
  • process leads
  • summer upper

  • waves stand
  • poleward shift
  • winter region
  • line hundreds
  • illustrated earlier


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