Linear mechanism by which internal gravity waves are generated and intensified in the ionosphere when interacting with an inhomogeneous zonal wind: 2. Internal gravity wave generation and intensification during the linear evolution stage

The linear mechanism by which internal gravity waves (IGWs) are generated and subsequently intensified in a stably stratified dissipative ionosphere in the presence of an inhomogeneous zonal wind (shear flow) has been studied. In the case of shear flows, the operators of linear problems are nonself-adjoint and the corresponding eigenfunctions are nonorthogonal; a canonical approach can hardly be used to study such motions. It is more adequate to apply the so-called nonmodal calculation. Dynamic equations and equations of energy transfer of IGW disturbances in the ionosphere with a shear flow have been obtained based on a nonmodal approach. Exact analytical solutions for the constructed dynamic equations have been found. The growth rate of the IGW shear instability has been determined. It has been established that IGW disturbances are intensified in an algebraically power manner rather than exponentially in the course of time. The effectiveness of the linear mechanism by which IGWs are intensified when interacting with an inhomogeneous zonal wind is analyzed. It has been indicated that IGWs effectively obtain the shear flow energy during the linear evolution stage and substantially increase (by an order of magnitude) their amplitude and energy. The frequency and the wave vector of generated IGW modes depend on time; therefore, a wide spectrum of wavelike disturbances, depending on the linear, rather than nonlinear, turbulent effects, is formed in the ionosphere with a shear flow. Thereby, a new degree of freedom appears, and the turbulent state of atmospheric—ionospheric layers can be formed on IGW disturbances.