scholarly journals Observations of planetary waves in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere during stratospheric warming events

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 4997-5005 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. H. Stray ◽  
Y. J. Orsolini ◽  
P. J. Espy ◽  
V. Limpasuvan ◽  
R. E. Hibbins

Abstract. This study investigates the effect of stratospheric sudden warmings (SSWs) on planetary wave (PW) activity in the mesosphere–lower thermosphere (MLT). PW activity near 95 km is derived from meteor wind data using a chain of eight SuperDARN radars at high northern latitudes that span longitudes from 150° W to 25° E and latitudes from 51 to 66° N. Zonal wave number 1 and 2 components were extracted from the meridional wind for the years 2000–2008. The observed wintertime PW activity shows common features associated with the stratospheric wind reversals and the accompanying stratospheric warming events. Onset dates for seven SSW events accompanied by an elevated stratopause (ES) were identified during this time period using the Specified Dynamics Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (SD-WACCM). For the seven events, a significant enhancement in wave number 1 and 2 PW amplitudes near 95 km was found to occur after the wind reversed at 50 km, with amplitudes maximizing approximately 5 days after the onset of the wind reversal. This PW enhancement in the MLT after the event was confirmed using SD-WACCM. When all cases of polar cap wind reversals at 50 km were considered, a significant, albeit moderate, correlation of 0.4 was found between PW amplitudes near 95 km and westward polar-cap stratospheric winds at 50 km, with the maximum correlation occurring ∼ 3 days after the maximum westward wind. These results indicate that the enhancement of PW amplitudes near 95 km is a common feature of SSWs irrespective of the strength of the wind reversal.

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 393-413
Author(s):  
N. H. Stray ◽  
Y. J. Orsolini ◽  
P. J. Espy ◽  
V. Limpasuvan ◽  
R. E. Hibbins

Abstract. This study investigates the effect of Stratospheric Sudden Warmings (SSWs) on Planetary Wave (PW) activity in the Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere (MLT). PW activity near 95 km is derived from meteor wind data using a chain of 8 SuperDARN radars at high northern latitudes that span longitudes from 150° W to 25° E and latitudes from 51 to 66° N. Zonal wave number 1 and 2 components were extracted from the meridional wind for the years 2000–2008. The observed wintertime PW activity shows common features associated with the stratospheric wind reversals and the accompanying stratospheric warming events. Onset dates for seven SSW events accompanied by an elevated stratopause (ES) were identified during this time period using the Specified Dynamics Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (SD-WACCM). For the seven events, a significant enhancement in wave number 1 and 2 PW amplitudes near 95 km was found to occur after the wind reversed at 50 km, with amplitudes maximizing approximately 5 days after the onset of the wind reversal. This PW enhancement in the MLT after the event was confirmed using SD-WACCM. When all cases of polar cap wind reversals at 50 km were considered, a significant, albeit moderate, correlation of 0.4 was found between PW amplitudes near 95 km and westward polar-cap stratospheric winds at 50 km, with the maximum correlation occurring ~3 days after the maximum westward wind. These results indicate that the enhancement of PW amplitudes near 95 km are a common feature of SSWs irrespective of the strength of the wind reversal.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 4885-4896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-Yang Gu ◽  
Han-Li Liu ◽  
Xiankang Dou ◽  
Tao Li

Abstract. The influence of the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) on a quasi-2-day wave (QTDW) with westward zonal wave number 3 (W3) is investigated using the Thermosphere–Ionosphere–Mesosphere Electrodynamics General Circulation Model (TIME-GCM). The summer easterly jet below 90 km is strengthened during an SSW, which results in a larger refractive index and thus more favorable conditions for the propagation of W3. In the winter hemisphere, the Eliassen–Palm (EP) flux diagnostics indicate that the strong instabilities at middle and high latitudes in the mesopause region are important for the amplification of W3, which is weakened during SSW periods due to the deceleration or even reversal of the winter westerly winds. Nonlinear interactions between the W3 and the wave number 1 stationary planetary wave produce QTDW with westward zonal wave number 2 (W2). The meridional wind perturbations of the W2 peak in the equatorial region, while the zonal wind and temperature components maximize at middle latitudes. The EP flux diagnostics indicate that the W2 is capable of propagating upward in both winter and summer hemispheres, whereas the propagation of W3 is mostly confined to the summer hemisphere. This characteristic is likely due to the fact that the phase speed of W2 is larger, and therefore its waveguide has a broader latitudinal extension. The larger phase speed also makes W2 less vulnerable to dissipation and critical layer filtering by the background wind when propagating upward.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaxian Li ◽  
Gang Chen

<p>We present an analysis of the perturbations and wave characteristics in equatorial electrojet (EEJ) and equatorial zonal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region during three sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events, based on the wind observations by two meteor radars in Indonesia and the geomagnetic field observations in India. During three SSWs, the shifting semidiurnal perturbations are consistently observed in the EEJ and accompanied with strong 2-day periodic perturbations simultaneously. The semidiurnal lunar (L2) tidal amplitudes in the EEJ and zonal winds show the prominent enhancements during the episodes of EEJ perturbations. The time-period spectra of the L2 tidal amplitudes in both the EEJ and zonal winds present the obvious quasi-2-day wave (QTDW) amplification with good agreement during these periods. Our results firstly reveal the important contributions of QTDW to EEJ perturbations during SSWs and the semidiurnal lunar tides modulated by QTDW serve as the main forcing agent therein</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 7617-7644
Author(s):  
In-Sun Song ◽  
Changsup Lee ◽  
Hye-Yeong Chun ◽  
Jeong-Han Kim ◽  
Geonhwa Jee ◽  
...  

Abstract. Effects of realistic propagation of gravity waves (GWs) on distribution of GW pseudomomentum fluxes are explored using a global ray-tracing model for the 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. Four-dimensional (4D; x–z and t) and two-dimensional (2D; z and t) results are compared for various parameterized pseudomomentum fluxes. In ray-tracing equations, refraction due to horizontal wind shear and curvature effects are found important and comparable to one another in magnitude. In the 4D, westward pseudomomentum fluxes are enhanced in the upper troposphere and northern stratosphere due to refraction and curvature effects around fluctuating jet flows. In the northern polar upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, eastward pseudomomentum fluxes are increased in the 4D. GWs are found to propagate more to the upper atmosphere in the 4D, since horizontal propagation and change in wave numbers due to refraction and curvature effects can make it more possible that GWs elude critical level filtering and saturation in the lower atmosphere. GW focusing effects occur around jet cores, and ray-tube effects appear where the polar stratospheric jets vary substantially in space and time. Enhancement of the structure of zonal wave number 2 in pseudomomentum fluxes in the middle stratosphere begins from the early stage of the SSW evolution. An increase in pseudomomentum fluxes in the upper atmosphere is present even after the onset in the 4D. Significantly enhanced pseudomomentum fluxes, when the polar vortex is disturbed, are related to GWs with small intrinsic group velocity (wave capture), and they would change nonlocally nearby large-scale vortex structures without substantially changing local mean flows.


Author(s):  
P. N. Vargin ◽  
◽  
E. M. Volodin ◽  

Simulations of 5th version of INM RAS (Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Science) climate model performed in the framework of CMIP6 project for the future climate under ssp2–4.5 (moderate) and ssp5–8.5 (business as usual or hard) scenarios of green house gases (GHG) increase are employed to analyze temperature, zonal mean wind, stratospheric polar vortex, planetary wave activity, meridional circulation, sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events, and stratospheric circulation spring break-up date changes during boreal winters from 2015 to 2100. Comparison of averages over two periods of 2080–2100 and 2015–2035 revealed that temperature will decrease from 1° in the lower stratosphere to 4° in the upper stratosphere under moderate scenario and up to 11° under hard scenario. Cooling of stratosphere will be accompanied by strengthening of zonal circulation and planetary wave activity propagation in the middle – upper stratosphere that in turn leads to increase (stronger under hard scenario) of planetary wave with zonal wave number 1 amplitude (wavenumber 1). 13 major sudden stratospheric warming events and 16 very cold stratospheric winter seasons were revealed under hard scenario. Under both scenarios early spring break-up dates will be accompanied by stronger wavenumber 1 in comparison with winter seasons with later spring break-up dates. Strengthening of zonal mean meridional circulation is expected in the late XXI century


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. A39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxim V. Klimenko ◽  
Vladimir V. Klimenko ◽  
Fedor S. Bessarab ◽  
Timofei V. Sukhodolov ◽  
Pavel A. Vasilev ◽  
...  

We apply the Entire Atmosphere GLobal (EAGLE) model to investigate the upper atmosphere response to the January 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. The model successfully reproduces neutral temperature and total electron content (TEC) observations. Using both model and observational data, we identify a cooling in the tropical lower thermosphere caused by the SSW. This cooling affects the zonal electric field close to the equator, leading to an enhanced vertical plasma drift. We demonstrate that along with a SSW-related wind disturbance, which is the main source to form a dynamo electric field in the ionosphere, perturbations of the ionospheric conductivity also make a significant contribution to the formation of the electric field response to SSW. The post-sunset TEC enhancement and pre-sunrise electron content reduction are revealed as a response to the 2009 SSW. We show that at post-sunset hours the SSW affects low-latitude TEC via a disturbance of the meridional electric field. We also show that the phase change of the semidiurnal migrating solar tide (SW2) in the neutral wind caused by the 2009 SSW at the altitude of the dynamo electric field generation has a crucial importance for the SW2 phase change in the zonal electric field. Such changes lead to the appearance of anomalous diurnal variability of the equatorial electromagnetic plasma drift and subsequent low-latitudinal TEC disturbances in agreement with available observations. Plain Language Summary – Entire Atmosphere GLobal model (EAGLE) interactively calculates the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and plasmasphere–ionosphere system states and their response to various natural and anthropogenic forcing. In this paper, we study the upper atmosphere response to the major sudden stratospheric warming that occurred in January 2009. Our results agree well with the observed evolution of the neutral temperature in the upper atmosphere and with low-latitude ionospheric disturbances over America. For the first time, we identify an SSW-related cooling in the tropical lower thermosphere that, in turn, could provide additional information for understanding the mechanisms for the generation of electric field disturbances observed at low latitudes. We show that the SSW-related vertical electromagnetic drift due to electric field disturbances is a key mechanism for interpretation of an observed anomalous diurnal development of the equatorial ionization anomaly during the 2009 SSW event. We demonstrate that the link between thermospheric winds and the ionospheric dynamo electric field during the SSW is attained through the modulation of the semidiurnal migrating solar tide.


2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 887-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. T. Jayachandran ◽  
J. W. MacDougall

Abstract. Central polar cap convection changes associated with southward turnings of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) are studied using a chain of Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosondes (CADI) in the northern polar cap. A study of 32 short duration (~1 h) southward IMF transition events found a three stage response: (1) initial response to a southward transition is near simultaneous for the entire polar cap; (2) the peak of the convection speed (attributed to the maximum merging electric field) propagates poleward from the ionospheric footprint of the merging region; and (3) if the change in IMF is rapid enough, then a step in convection appears to start at the cusp and then propagates antisunward over the polar cap with the velocity of the maximum convection. On the nightside, a substorm onset is observed at about the time when the step increase in convection (associated with the rapid transition of IMF) arrives at the polar cap boundary.Key words: Ionosphere (plasma convection; polar ionosphere) - Magnetospheric physics (solar wind - magnetosphere interaction)


2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. N. Raphael ◽  
G. J. Marshall ◽  
J. Turner ◽  
R. L. Fogt ◽  
D. Schneider ◽  
...  

Abstract The Amundsen Sea low (ASL) is a climatological low pressure center that exerts considerable influence on the climate of West Antarctica. Its potential to explain important recent changes in Antarctic climate, for example, in temperature and sea ice extent, means that it has become the focus of an increasing number of studies. Here, the authors summarize the current understanding of the ASL, using reanalysis datasets to analyze recent variability and trends, as well as ice-core chemistry and climate model projections, to examine past and future changes in the ASL, respectively. The ASL has deepened in recent decades, affecting the climate through its influence on the regional meridional wind field, which controls the advection of moisture and heat into the continent. Deepening of the ASL in spring is consistent with observed West Antarctic warming and greater sea ice extent in the Ross Sea. Climate model simulations for recent decades indicate that this deepening is mediated by tropical variability while climate model projections through the twenty-first century suggest that the ASL will deepen in some seasons in response to greenhouse gas concentration increases.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 953-963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cosme Alexandre O. B. Figueiredo ◽  
Ricardo A. Buriti ◽  
Igo Paulino ◽  
John W. Meriwether ◽  
Jonathan J. Makela ◽  
...  

Abstract. The midnight temperature maximum (MTM) has been observed in the lower thermosphere by two Fabry–Pérot interferometers (FPIs) at São João do Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W) and Cajazeiras (6.9° S, 38.6° W) during 2011, when the solar activity was moderate and the solar flux was between 90 and 155 SFU (1 SFU  =  10−22 W m−2 Hz−1). The MTM is studied in detail using measurements of neutral temperature, wind and airglow relative intensity of OI630.0 nm (referred to as OI6300), and ionospheric parameters, such as virtual height (h′F), the peak height of the F2 region (hmF2), and critical frequency of the F region (foF2), which were measured by a Digisonde instrument (DPS) at Eusébio (3.9° S, 38.4° W; geomagnetic coordinates 7.31° S, 32.40° E for 2011). The MTM peak was observed mostly along the year, except in May, June, and August. The amplitudes of the MTM varied from 64 ± 46 K in April up to 144 ± 48 K in October. The monthly temperature average showed a phase shift in the MTM peak around 0.25 h in September to 2.5 h in December before midnight. On the other hand, in February, March, and April the MTM peak occurred around midnight. International Reference Ionosphere 2012 (IRI-2012) model was compared to the neutral temperature observations and the IRI-2012 model failed in reproducing the MTM peaks. The zonal component of neutral wind flowed eastward the whole night; regardless of the month and the magnitude of the zonal wind, it was typically within the range of 50 to 150 m s−1 during the early evening. The meridional component of the neutral wind changed its direction over the months: from November to February, the meridional wind in the early evening flowed equatorward with a magnitude between 25 and 100 m s−1; in contrast, during the winter months, the meridional wind flowed to the pole within the range of 0 to −50 m s−1. Our results indicate that the reversal (changes in equator to poleward flow) or abatement of the meridional winds is an important factor in the MTM generation. From February to April and from September to December, the h′F and the hmF2 showed an increase around 18:00–20:00 LT within a range between 300 and 550 km and reached a minimal height of about 200–300 km close to midnight; then the layer rose again by about 40 km or, sometimes, remained at constant height. Furthermore, during the winter months, the h′F and hmF2 showed a different behavior; the signature of the pre-reversal enhancement did not appear as in other months and the heights did not exceed 260 and 350 km. Our observation indicated that the midnight collapse of the F region was a consequence of the MTM in the meridional wind that was reflected in the height of the F region. Lastly, the behavior of the OI6300 showed, from February to April and from September to December, an increase in intensity around midnight or 1 h before, which was associated with the MTM, whereas, from May to August, the relative intensity was more intense in the early evening and decayed during the night.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ohad Harari ◽  
Chaim I. Garfinkel ◽  
Olaf Morgenstern ◽  
Guang Zeng ◽  
Simone Tilmes ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Northern Hemisphere and tropical circulation response to interannual variability in Arctic stratospheric ozone is analyzed in a set of the latest model simulations archived for the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) project. All models simulate a connection between ozone variability and temperature/geopotential height in the lower stratosphere similar to that observed. A connection between Arctic ozone variability and polar cap sea-level pressure is also found, but additional analysis suggests that it is mediated by the dynamical variability that typically drives the anomalous ozone concentrations. The CCMI models also show a connection between Arctic stratospheric ozone and the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO): the CCMI models show a tendency of Arctic stratospheric ozone variability to lead ENSO variability one to two years later. While this effect is much weaker than that observed, it is still statistically significant. Overall, Arctic stratospheric ozone is related to lower stratospheric variability and may also influence the surface in both polar and tropical latitudes, though these impacts can be masked by internal variability if data is only available for ~ 40 years.


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