1985/09/01 by Julie Noonan, Roger K. Smith · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Ocean Waves and Remote Sensing #Nonlinear Waves and Solitons #Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes #Physics #Nonlinear system #Internal wave #Airy wave theory #Atmosphere (unit) #Mechanics #Classical mechanics #Wave propagation #Breaking wave #Stokes wave #Meteorology #Optics #Quantum mechanics
paper · doi:10.1080/03091928508245426
openalex publication_date 1985/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Detailed comparisons are made between the predictions of Benjamin's weakly nonlinear theory for internal solitary waves in fluids of great depth, with observational data on solitary wave-type disturbances in the lower atmosphere associated with the “morning glory” phenomenon. It is shown that, while the theory is not wholly unreasonable, neither is it completely satisfactory. In particular, although the calculated wave speeds are generally close to those observed, they are no improvement on those based on linear long wave theory; at the same time the predicted wave half-widths are too large by a factor of two to three. The limitations of the theory appear to be associated with the requirement that wave half-widths are much less than the total fluid depth, a condition not satisfied in the atmospheric case. However, the alternative theory for shallow fluids, based on the Korteweg-de Vries equation is found to be even more unsuitable. Our analyses highlight some of the problems in comparing theory with observations and bring to the fore some of the present limitations of the data for such purposes.