Energy Cascade

Atmospheric waves may develop in layers of strong vertical wind shear. Like ocean waves, these too amplify and break generating smaller scale waves and eddies that become unstable (wave breaking). Through this progression of instabilities, kinetic energy may be extracted from the large-scale wind field, giving rise to a variety of small-scale motions that extend down the molecular scale—a process that inspired Richardson’s rhyme and resembles that of an energy cascade.

Energy cascades transfer energy from large (or small) scales of motion to the small (or large) scales. As indicated by the “drop in the bucket,” kinetic energy in the reservoir is transferred to smaller and smaller scales until it becomes indistinguishable from random molecular motions, becoming incorporated into the atmosphere’s reservoir of internal energy.