Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-waves-and-compressible-flow-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/2/a/i/solution

Write the density and pressure as and , respectively. The background satisfies hydrostatic balance, , and . Linearizing the Euler equations for an inviscid fluid, incompressibility and advection of density gives
Differentiate the horizontal equation in and use incompressibility to obtain . Differentiate the vertical equation in time and twice in :
Dividing by gives the equation for internal waves in an exponentially stratified incompressible fluid,
The first-derivative term retains the variation of inertial density with height; no Boussinesq approximation has been made.

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