A numerical model for solving the linearized gravity-wave equations by a multilayer method

Kurzfassung

We developed a numerical model for solving the linearized gravity-wave equations using a multilayer approach that explicitly accounts for viscosity, thermal conduction, and ion drag. The solution strategy is based on a matrix-exponential formalism and comprises two classes of methods: global matrix methods and scattering matrix methods. The model supports both single-frequency waves and time-dependent wave packets. Particular emphasis is placed on the global matrix method, which exploits the structured form of the multilayer system to achieve high computational efficiency while maintaining numerical accuracy. Numerical experiments demonstrate that all methods yield identical accuracy, although the global matrix method is significantly more efficient than the scattering matrix method, especially for time-dependent wave packets. The impact of ion drag on wave characteristics is quantified within this framework. The implementation is freely available as open-source code at https://github.com/AlexandruDoicu/Gravity-Waves (last access: 1 June 2026) and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21410453 (Doicu and Efremenko, 2026).