Weak and classical solutions to an asymptotic model for atmospheric flows

In this paper we study a recently derived mathematical model for nonlinear propagation of waves in the atmosphere, for which we establish the local well-posedness in the setting of classical solutions. This is achieved by formulating the model as a quasilinear parabolic evolution problem in an appropriate functional analytic framework and by using abstract theory for such problems. Moreover, for $L_2$-initial data, we construct global weak solutions by employing a two-step approximation strategy based on a Galerkin scheme, where an equivalent formulation of the problem in terms of a new variable is used. Compared to the original model, the latter has the advantage that the $L_2$-norm is a Liapunov functional.