Accession Number:

AD0729640

Title:

Fluid Motions and Some of Their Effects on Chemistry in the Upper Atmosphere,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE ANALYSES ARLINGTON VA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIV

Personal Author(s):

• Bauer,Ernest
• Selwyn,Philip A.
• Tchen,C. M.

Report Date:

1971-07-01

Pagination or Media Count:

73.0

Abstract:

The report discusses the fluid mechanical motions of various time scales which affect the chemical and energy balance in the earths upper atmosphere, with particular application to the oxygen dissociation in the lower thermosphere. First the equations of fluid mechanics of the individual species and of the total gas are written down and some useful approximations are discussed, and the long-term or dominant motions, the general circulation and steady winds, are taken up. Next solutions of the linearized equations for wave motions--the tides and other acoustic-gravity waves--are discussed, treating in turn theory, observations, and possible implications for aeronomy. After that the origin of turbulence arising from the non-linearity of the hydrodynamic equations is pointed out, the spectrum of atmospheric turbulence is indicated briefly and the general character of atmospheric diffusion is discussed. Finally the interaction of turbulence and chemistry is treated, with emphasis on the limitations of present analyses. Author

Descriptors:

• *PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
• ATMOSPHERIC MOTION
• HYDRODYNAMICS
• UPPER ATMOSPHERE
• EQUATIONS OF MOTION
• WIND
• TURBULENCE
• REACTION KINETICS
• ATMOSPHERIC TIDES
• OXYGEN
• DISSOCIATION

Subject Categories:

• Atmospheric Physics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE