Articles | Volume 32, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-32-181-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-32-181-2014
Regular paper
 | 
25 Feb 2014
Regular paper |  | 25 Feb 2014

Rolls of the internal gravity waves in the Earth's atmosphere

O. Onishchenko, O. Pokhotelov, W. Horton, A. Smolyakov, T. Kaladze, and V. Fedun

Abstract. The effect of the wind shear on the roll structures of nonlinear internal gravity waves (IGWs) in the Earth's atmosphere with the finite vertical temperature gradients is investigated. A closed system of equations is derived for the nonlinear dynamics of the IGWs in the presence of temperature gradients and sheared wind. The solution in the form of rolls has been obtained. The new condition for the existence of such structures was found by taking into account the roll spatial scale, the horizontal speed and wind shear parameters. We have shown that the roll structures can exist in a dynamically unstable atmosphere.