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The absolute frequency is the generally complex angular frequency at the physically selected absolute wavenumber. Its imaginary part is the fixed-position exponential growth rate under the convention $e^{-i\omega t}$. Marginal zero exponential growth may still carry an algebraic prefactor.

A time-independent ray Hamiltonian conserves the stationary-observer absolute frequency. A horizontally uniform background also conserves horizontal wavenumber. The intrinsic frequency $\hat{\omega }=\omega -kU(z)$ nevertheless changes when the ray moves through shear. These follow from the Hamiltonian ray-tracing equations and are essential to identifying a critical level of an internal gravity wave.

The absolute growth rate is the exponential growth rate of a localized impulse at a fixed position in the chosen observation frame. Under the convention $e^{i(kx-\omega t)}$, it is the imaginary part of the physically selected absolute frequency. Positive values give absolute hydrodynamic instability; negative values can still coexist with convective hydrodynamic instability.

An absolute hydrodynamic instability makes the response to a localized impulse grow at a fixed spatial point in a specified frame. This differs from convective hydrodynamic instability, which amplifies a moving wave packet while its response decays at fixed positions. For analytic dispersion relations, the relevant absolute frequency is associated with an accessible zero-group velocity saddle, with the spatial-branch selection checked rather than assumed for an arbitrary dispersion relation.

Let $b=-g{\rho }^{\prime }/{\rho }_0$ be the buoyancy perturbation and $p$ the pressure perturbation divided by ${\rho }_0$. For stable stratification, $N>0$. The nonrotating Linearized Boussinesq equations areEliminating $u,p,b$ gives $({\partial }_x^2+{\partial }_z^2)w_{tt}+N^2{w}_{xx}=0$. Since $w={\zeta }_t$, a nonzero-frequency plane wave obeys the same equation for its displacement. Substituting its phase yields the dispersion relation for a plane internal gravity wave:Thus the frequency depends on the wavevector direction rather than its magnitude.

Advection of the background density gives ${\rho }^{\prime }=-\zeta {\bar{\rho }}_z$ to first order. With constant ${\bar{\rho }}_z<0$, the instantaneous density gradient is ${\rho }_z={\bar{\rho }}_z(1-{\zeta }_z)$. A region has unstable density stratification when this becomes positive, namely when ${\zeta }_z>1$. The maximum of ${\zeta }_z$ is $|m{A}_{\zeta }|$, so the monochromatic internal-wave overturning criterion isEquality gives a locally vanishing gradient. This is the prediction of the displacement field extrapolated to overturning; the small-amplitude approximation itself ceases to be reliable there.

For the rising packet, distinguish its conserved absolute frequency $\omega$ from its actual intrinsic frequency $\sigma =\omega -kU(z)$. The printed terminology calls $\omega$ intrinsic while also assigning it to a stationary observer; the stationary-observer interpretation is the one consistent with the displayed Doppler shift. On the positive-frequency branch, the ray Hamiltonian isThe Hamiltonian ray-tracing equations giveThe last identity follows also by differentiating the Hamiltonian along its canonical trajectory: the spatial and wavevector terms cancel in pairs. Thus absolute-frequency conservation in steady shear gives constant $k$, constant $\omega$, and constant stationary-observer horizontal phase speed $c_x=\omega /k$. In contrast, $\sigma =\omega -ksz$ decreases as the packet rises. At its initial height,This is the critical level of an internal gravity wave. In fact $m(t)=m_0-kst$ and $z(t)=[\omega -\sigma (k,m(t))]/(ks)$, so the inviscid ray approaches $z_c$ as $t\to \infty$, rather than reaching it at a finite time.

Write $\theta =|\Theta |=\arctan (|m|/k)$, so $\sigma =N\cos \theta$ with $0<\theta <\pi /2$. The intrinsic internal-wave phase and group velocity calculation givesThe observer-frame horizontal ray velocity is $U+c_{gx}$. Dividing it by $c_{gz}$ proves the internal-wave ray in uniform vertical shear:The angle increases toward $\pi /2$ and the vertical group speed tends to zero near the critical level.

The wave-action conservation law fixes the prescribed upward flux. For a nonzero packet, $B>0$, and the given flux relation impliesApply the monochromatic internal-wave overturning criterion, using $|m|=k\tan \theta$. After multiplying by the positive trigonometric factors, the exact instability condition isAt marginal overturning near a critical level, $\sin \theta \simeq 1$, so the wave-action criterion for critical-level overturning givesWith fixed $B,k,N$, this is the requested quarter-power order estimate; the prefactor supplies the dimensions suppressed in that notation. It is an onset balance, not a replacement for $\cos \theta =\sigma /N$. Combining the two relations instead gives ${\cos }^3\theta =(B{k}^3/N^2)\sin \theta$ at onset. Since $m^2{A}_{\zeta }^2$ diverges as ${\sigma }^{-3}$ toward $z_c$, any nonzero packet flux eventually violates the linear overturning criterion before reaching that level, within this nondissipative ray model.

The fixed observer is the ray $V=0$. The physically selected zero-group velocity saddle defines the absolute wavenumber $k_0$ and absolute frequency ${\omega }_0$:For a smooth frequency branch with $D_{\omega }\ne 0$, the saddle condition is equivalently $D_k(k_0,{\omega }_0)=0$. The absolute growth rate isHere $k_0$ and ${\omega }_0$ can be complex. A physical saddle point is selected by the localized impulse response and deformation of its Fourier transform contour; an arbitrary algebraic stationary point need not determine absolute hydrodynamic instability.

Take the physical coefficients $U,\mu ,c_d$ real. Substitution of $e^{i(kx-\omega t)}$ into the linear complex Ginzburg-Landau equation gives $-i\omega +ikU-\mu +(1+i{c}_d)k^2=0$, henceLet $A=c_d-i$. Completing the square yields $\omega =A(k+U/(2A){)}^2+i\mu -U^2/(4A)$. Therefore the absolute wavenumber and absolute frequency areTheir explicitly separated parts areThus $d\omega /dk=U+2(c_d-i)k$ vanishes at $k_0$. The complex saddle describes the localized Green function response; it is different from selecting a real wavenumber for a Fourier mode for temporal amplification.

When $R\ll Q$, the ratio of cubic damping to linear amplification is $R^2/Q^2\ll 1$. The cubic amplitude saturation equation therefore giveswhile the small-amplitude regime lasts. With $c_d=0$, the matching real-wavenumber normal mode of the linear complex Ginzburg-Landau equation has $\omega =Uk+i(\mu -k^2)$ and hence amplitude proportional to $e^{(\mu -k^2)t}$. ThusThis is the temporal growth rate of the same Fourier component. It is not the fixed-position absolute frequency rate $\mu -U^2/4$ of a localized impulse. Nonlinear damping becomes important when $R$ is comparable with $Q$ and then arrests exponential amplification.