Effect of nonlinear instability on gravity-wave momentum transport

This paper investigates the nonlinear instability of internal gravity waves and the effects of their nonlinear interaction on momentum flux, using simple theoretical and numerical models. From the result of an analysis of parametric instability of a two-dimensional internal gravity wave as discussed by Yeh and Liu (1981) and Klostermeyer (1982), a group trajectory length scale for a gravity wave packet was determined, expressed in terms of the dominant vertical wavelenght and the degree of convective saturation. It is shown that this analysis justifies the Eikonal saturation method for relatively transient packets, that are well below the saturation amplitude, propagating in a slowly varying mean flow. Conversely, linear theory fails for persistent disturbances and trasient wave packets near convective saturation.