The basic characteristics of the atmospheric tides are described by the classical tidal theory. By neglecting mechanical forcing and dissipation, the classical tidal theory assumes that atmospheric wave motions can be considered as linear perturbations of an initially motionless zonal mean state that is horizontally stratified and isothermal. The two major results of the classical theory are
- atmospheric tides are eigenmodes of the atmosphere described by Hough functions
- amplitudes grow exponentially with height.
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