Acoustic-gravity waves in a viscous and thermally conducting isothermal atmosphere. II: For small Prandtl number (Q1895290)

In part I [see the foregoing entry] we investigated the effect of Newtonian cooling on acoustic-gravity waves in an isothermal atmosphere for large Prandtl number. In this paper we consider the effect of Newtonian cooling on acoustic-gravity waves for small Prandtl number in an isothermal atmosphere. It is shown that if the Newtonian cooling coefficient is small compared to the adiabatic cutoff frequency, the atmosphere may be divided into three distinct regions. In the lower region the motion is adiabatic and the effect of the kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity are negligible, while the effect of these diffusivities is more pronounced in the upper region. In the middle region the effect of the thermal diffusivity is large, while that of the kinematic viscosity is still negligible.