David C. Fritts

TL;DR: In this paper , the results of an idealized direct numerical simulation of multi-scale gravity wave dynamics that reveals multiple larger and smaller-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI T&K) events are presented.

TL;DR: The Wave middle class Explorer mission (WE) as mentioned in this paper was proposed to observe and quantify the effects of small-scale internal Gravity Waves (GW) in the Earth's atmosphere from source regions in the troposphere and lower stratosphere to the mesosphere, lower thermosphere, and ionosphere (MLTI) where the GW have their most dramatic effects.

TL;DR: In this paper, stable boundary layer measurements using the DataHawk UAV and high-resolution direct numerical simulations (DNS) were employed to examine the interactions and instabilities occurring in multi-scale flows that drive intermittent turbulence events in the stable atmosphere.

TL;DR: In this article , the authors survey recent observational evidence of multi-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities throughout the atmosphere, many features of which closely resemble T&K dynamics observed in the laboratory and idealized initial modeling.

Abstract: During the last two decades, internal gravity waves have been recognized as an important feature in atmospheric and oceanic dynamics. In both fluids, internal gravity waves account for much of the variability in observed velocity and density profiles and play a role in a variety of processes. However, wave propagation, and therefore wave effects, in the atmosphere and the oceans, are profoundly affected by local velocity shear. In this paper, we examine various aspects of the interaction of internal gravity waves with shear using a numerical model and a laboratory shear flow apparatus.