The Propagation of Tsunami Generated Acoustic-Gravity Waves in the Atmosphere

Abstract:

Tsunami-generated acoustic-gravity waves propagate in the atmosphere up to the ionosphere, where they have been observed to have an impact on the total electron content (TEC). We simulate the propagation of 2D&3D linearized acoustic-gravity waves in the atmosphere by Fourier transforming in the horizontal and solving the vertical structure with a tsunami-perturbed lower boundary and an upper radiation boundary conditions. Starting from the algorithm of Broutman (2013) and the atmospheric profile of the 2004 Sumatra Tsunami, we add compressibility to the atmosphere and extend the calculation to three dimensions. Compressibility is an important feature of the real atmosphere, and we investigate its effect on wave propagation. We obtain the vertical wavenumber as a function of buoyancy frequency, density scale height, sound speed, and background wind velocity. Results show that wind shear and compressibility have a significant impact on wave transmission and reflection. We also investigate the 3D problem to allow variations in the bottom boundary condition and in the background wind profiles. Results are quite similar to the 2D case.