The physics of orographic gravity wave drag

Teixeira, M. A. C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1205-3233 (2014) The physics of orographic gravity wave drag. Frontiers in Physics, 2. 43. ISSN 2296-424X doi: 10.3389/fphy.2014.00043

Abstract/Summary

The drag and momentum fluxes produced by gravity waves generated in flow over orography are reviewed, focusing on adiabatic conditions without phase transitions or radiation effects, and steady mean incoming flow. The orographic gravity wave drag is first introduced in its simplest possible form, for inviscid, linearized, non-rotating flow with the Boussinesq and hydrostatic approximations, and constant wind and static stability. Subsequently, the contributions made by previous authors (primarily using theory and numerical simulations) to elucidate how the drag is affected by additional physical processes are surveyed. These include the effect of orography anisotropy, vertical wind shear, total and partial critical levels, vertical wave reflection and resonance, non-hydrostatic effects and trapped lee waves, rotation and nonlinearity. Frictional and boundary layer effects are also briefly mentioned. A better understanding of all of these aspects is important for guiding the improvement of drag parametrization schemes.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/37133
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	Frontiers
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