Abstract: | The propagation of long weakly nonlinear waves in an atmospheric waveguide is considered. A model system of Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equations [1], which describes the propagation of such waves, is derived. In the case of one excited wave mode the system of model equations goes over into the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation, in which, however, the variables x and t are interchanged. The reasons for this are clarified. In the two-dimensional case an approximate solution of the model equations is constructed, and steady nonlinear waves and their interaction in a collision are considered. The results of a numerical verification of the stability of the approximate steady solutions and of the solution to the problem of decay of the wave into quasisolitons are given.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 151–157, May–June, 1988. |