Analysis of solitary disturbances over an Antarctic Ice Shelf

Large amplitude, propagating, solitary disturbances have been observed in the atmospheric boundary layer over a gently sloping Antarctic Ice Shelf. The waves are usually trapped within the lowest 40 m and are observed only when the surface layer is strongly stably stratified and prevailing wind speeds are low. It is shown that the waves are trapped due to the combined effects of velocity curvature and stratification. The observed wavelengths can be bounded using simple heuristic arguments based on the Scorer parameter. Properties of the waves are compared with results from the weakly nonlinear numerical model of Rottman and Einaudi (1993).