Observation and interpretation of spectra of atmospheric gravity wave perturbations with upward and downward phase progression

For perturbations with observed frequencies between ω_o = 2π/(120 min) and 2 π/(12 min) or vertical wave numbers between m = 2π/(10 km) and 2 π/(1 km), on average, two thirds of the density variance was associated with perturbations exhibiting downward phase progression (i.e. upwardly propagating waves) and one third of the variance was associated with perturbations exhibiting upward phase progression. Models were used to predict the m and ω_o spectral indices and magnitudes associated with upward and downward phase perturbations. For the ω_o spectra the measured upward phase spectral indices (mean = -1.6) were consistently shallower than the downward phase spectral indices (mean = -1.9). -from Authors