Gravity Wave, How? Video inside

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the distinction between gravity waves and gravitational waves, emphasizing that the term "gravity waves" is often misused in popular media. Gravity waves refer to atmospheric phenomena, while gravitational waves pertain to theories in physics related to gravity. The video in question is criticized for being misleading, as it presents accelerated visuals that do not accurately represent the time frame of the events depicted. Observations indicate that the clouds' movement is likely due to atmospheric dynamics rather than true gravity waves. The conversation highlights the complexity of Earth's atmospheric waves, suggesting that the term "topographic wave" might be more appropriate for the phenomena shown in the video. Overall, the content underscores the need for clarity in terminology and understanding of atmospheric science.
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The clouds are moving in waves. Why?
 
Raza said:
The clouds are moving in waves. Why?

Why not? This is all atmospheric phenomena, does not have anything to do with gravity waves as the title suggests.
 
Integral said:
Why not? This is all atmospheric phenomena, does not have anything to do with gravity waves as the title suggests.

Thank you for clarifying that. but why does the clouds move in a wave?
 
Gravitational waves versus gravity waves

Integral said:
Why not? This is all atmospheric phenomena, does not have anything to do with gravity waves as the title suggests.

The popular press--- and unfortunately some physicists--- have taken to calling gravational waves (as in gtr and other gravitation theories) "gravity waves", despite the fact that this term has long been used in meteorology to mean a type of atmospheric wave. I haven't seen the video the OP is asking about, so I have no idea if this video in any sense illustrates a meteorological gravity wave.
 
Since I know this video, allow me to point out and correct couple of things:

First the video:
Its misleading (big time). Look at the middle of the screen and you will see a road where a very fast dots are moving (cars). That means its greatly accelerated. Then look at the way the sun moves. It looks as if rising then starts to set however another bright spot migrating across the scene as if it is another day. The time on the screen seem totally irrelevant and misleading. That scene is not taken in 15minutes normal speed. It looks it has been taken very fast over more than a day.

Second the atmospheric gravity wave business:
The Earth's dynamics is very vast and interesting field. There are numerous waves propagating in various speeds and directions all the time and they may interact non-linearly. The term gravity wave may be well misplaced and should be called topographic wave (since that's the cause of the wave). Needless to say, there are waves in atmosphere caused by gravity tides. There are many other which I will not mention. Let me post a good link concerning topographic waves (which this video to my knowledge portraits): (its actually a masters thesis but in HTML and can be just quickly browsed through looking at the pics to get the idea)
http://www.igf.fuw.edu.pl/zbyszek/magister/PracaMagisterskaPoprFinalKonrad.html#SECTION00020000000000000000
 
Thank you, sneez
That was very very educational.
 

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