scholarly journals A decadal satellite record of gravity wave activity in the lower stratosphere to study polar stratospheric cloud formation

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Reinhold Spang ◽  
Andrew Orr ◽  
M. Joan Alexander ◽  
Laura A. Holt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Michelson Interferometer ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Cloud Formation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Medium Range Weather Forecast

Abstract. Atmospheric gravity waves yield substantial small-scale temperature fluctuations that can trigger the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). This paper introduces a new satellite record of gravity wave activity in the polar lower stratosphere to investigate this process. The record comprises observations of the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite during January 2003 to December 2012. Gravity wave activity is measured in terms of detrended and noise-corrected 15 μm brightness temperature variances, which are calculated from AIRS channels that are most sensitive to temperature fluctuations at about 17–32 km altitude. The analysis of temporal patterns in the data set revealed a strong seasonal cycle in wave activity with wintertime maxima at mid and high latitudes. The analysis of spatial patterns indicated that orography as well as jet and storm sources are the main cause of the observed waves. Wave activity is closely correlated with 30 hPa zonal winds, which is attributed to the AIRS observational filter. We used the new data set to evaluate explicitly resolved temperature fluctuations due to gravity waves in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) operational analysis. It was found that the analysis reproduces orographic and non-orographic wave patterns in the right places, but that wave amplitudes are typically underestimated by a factor of 2–3. Furthermore, in a first survey of joint AIRS and Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) satellite observations nearly 50 gravity wave-induced PSC formation events were identified. The survey shows that the new AIRS data set can help to better identify such events and more generally highlights the importance of the process for polar ozone chemistry.

scholarly journals A decadal satellite record of gravity wave activity in the lower stratosphere to study polar stratospheric cloud formation

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 2901-2920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Reinhold Spang ◽  
Andrew Orr ◽  
M. Joan Alexander ◽  
Laura A. Holt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Michelson Interferometer ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Cloud Formation ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Right

Abstract. Atmospheric gravity waves yield substantial small-scale temperature fluctuations that can trigger the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). This paper introduces a new satellite record of gravity wave activity in the polar lower stratosphere to investigate this process. The record is comprised of observations of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite from January 2003 to December 2012. Gravity wave activity is measured in terms of detrended and noise-corrected 15 µm brightness temperature variances, which are calculated from AIRS channels that are the most sensitive to temperature fluctuations at about 17–32 km of altitude. The analysis of temporal patterns in the data set revealed a strong seasonal cycle in wave activity with wintertime maxima at mid- and high latitudes. The analysis of spatial patterns indicated that orography as well as jet and storm sources are the main causes of the observed waves. Wave activity is closely correlated with 30 hPa zonal winds, which is attributed to the AIRS observational filter. We used the new data set to evaluate explicitly resolved temperature fluctuations due to gravity waves in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) operational analysis. It was found that the analysis reproduces orographic and non-orographic wave patterns in the right places, but that wave amplitudes are typically underestimated by a factor of 2–3. Furthermore, in a first survey of joint AIRS and Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) satellite observations, nearly 50 gravity-wave-induced PSC formation events were identified. The survey shows that the new AIRS data set can help to better identify such events and more generally highlights the importance of the process for polar ozone chemistry.

scholarly journals Seasonal changes in gravity wave activity measured by lidars at mid-latitudes

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (22) ◽  
pp. 6775-6787 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rauthe ◽  
M. Gerding ◽  
F.-J. Lübken
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Atmospheric Physics ◽  
Adverse Weather Conditions ◽  
Comprehensive Information ◽  
Adverse Weather

Abstract. More than 230 nights of temperature measurements between 1 and 105 km have been performed at the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn with a combination of two different lidars, i.e. a Rayleigh-Mie-Raman lidar and a potassium lidar. About 1700 h of measurements have been collected between 2002 and 2006. Apart from some gaps due to the adverse weather conditions the measurements are well distributed throughout the year. Comprehensive information about the activity of medium- and low-frequency gravity waves was extracted from this data set. The dominating vertical wavelengths found are between 10 and 20 km and do not show any seasonal variation. In contrast the temperature fluctuations due to gravity waves experience a clear annual cycle with a maximum in winter. The most significant differences exist around 60 km where the fluctuations in winter are more than two times larger than they are in summer. Only small seasonal differences are observed above 90 km and below 35 km. Generally, the fluctuations grow from about 0.5 K up to 8 K between 20 and 100 km. Damping of waves is observed at nearly all altitudes and in all seasons. The planetary wave activity shows a similar structure in altitude and season as the gravity wave activity which indicates that similar mechanisms influencing different scales. Combining the monthly mean temperatures and the fluctuations we show that the transition between winter and summer season and vice versa seems to start in the mesopause region and to penetrate downward.

scholarly journals Stratospheric gravity waves at Southern Hemisphere orographic hotspots: 2003–2014 AIRS/Aqua observations

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (14) ◽  
pp. 9381-9397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Alison W. Grimsdell ◽  
M. Joan Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Kerguelen Islands ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Stratospheric gravity waves from small-scale orographic sources are currently not well-represented in general circulation models. This may be a reason why many simulations have difficulty reproducing the dynamical behavior of the Southern Hemisphere polar vortex in a realistic manner. Here we discuss a 12-year record (2003–2014) of stratospheric gravity wave activity at Southern Hemisphere orographic hotspots as observed by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Aqua satellite. We introduce a simple and effective approach, referred to as the “two-box method”, to detect gravity wave activity from infrared nadir sounder measurements and to discriminate between gravity waves from orographic and other sources. From austral mid-fall to mid-spring (April–October) the contributions of orographic sources to the observed gravity wave occurrence frequencies were found to be largest for the Andes (90 %), followed by the Antarctic Peninsula (76 %), Kerguelen Islands (73 %), Tasmania (70 %), New Zealand (67 %), Heard Island (60 %), and other hotspots (24–54 %). Mountain wave activity was found to be closely correlated with peak terrain altitudes, and with zonal winds in the lower troposphere and mid-stratosphere. We propose a simple model to predict the occurrence of mountain wave events in the AIRS observations using zonal wind thresholds at 3 and 750 hPa. The model has significant predictive skill for hotspots where gravity wave activity is primarily due to orographic sources. It typically reproduces seasonal variations of the mountain wave occurrence frequencies at the Antarctic Peninsula and Kerguelen Islands from near zero to over 60 % with mean absolute errors of 4–5 percentage points. The prediction model can be used to disentangle upper level wind effects on observed occurrence frequencies from low-level source and other influences. The data and methods presented here can help to identify interesting case studies in the vast amount of AIRS data, which could then be further explored to study the specific characteristics of stratospheric gravity waves from orographic sources and to support model validation.

scholarly journals Seasonal changes in gravity wave activity measured by lidars at mid-latitudes

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 13741-13773 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rauthe ◽  
M. Gerding ◽  
F.-J. Lübken
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Atmospheric Physics ◽  
Adverse Weather Conditions ◽  
Comprehensive Information ◽  
Adverse Weather

Abstract. More than 230 nights of temperature measurements between 1 and 105 km have been performed at the Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Kühlungsborn with a combination of two different lidars, i.e. a Rayleigh-Mie-Raman lidar and a potassium lidar. About 1700 h of measurements have been collected between 2002 and 2006. Apart from some gaps due to the adverse weather conditions the measurements are well distributed throughout the year. Comprehensive information about the activity of medium- and low-frequency gravity waves was extracted from this data set. The dominating vertical wavelengths found are between 10 and 20 km and do not show any seasonal variation. In contrast the temperature fluctuations due to gravity waves experience a clear annual cycle with a maximum in winter. The most significant differences exist around 60 km where the fluctuations in winter are more than two times larger than they are in summer. Only small seasonal differences are observed above 90 km and below 35 km. Generally, the fluctuations grow from about 0.5 K up to 8 K between 20 and 100 km. Damping of waves is observed at nearly all altitudes and in all seasons. The planetary wave activity shows a similar structure in altitude and season as the gravity wave activity which indicates a strong coupling between the processes of the different scales. Combining the monthly mean temperatures and the fluctuations we show that the transition between winter and summer season and vice versa seems to start in the mesopause region and to penetrate downward.

scholarly journals Propagation paths and source distributions of resolved gravity waves in ECMWF-IFS analysis fields around the southern polar night jet

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (24) ◽  
pp. 18641-18668
Author(s):  
Cornelia Strube ◽  
Peter Preusse ◽  
Manfred Ern ◽  
Martin Riese
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Lateral Shift ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Wave Ray ◽  
Propagation Paths ◽  
Wave Momentum

Abstract. In the southern winter polar stratosphere, the distribution of gravity wave momentum flux in many state-of-the-art climate simulations is inconsistent with long-time satellite and superpressure balloon observations around 60∘ S. Recent studies hint that a lateral shift between prominent gravity wave sources in the tropospheric mid-latitudes and the location where gravity wave activity is present in the stratosphere causes at least part of the discrepancy. This lateral shift cannot be represented by the column-based gravity wave drag parameterisations used in most general circulation models. However, recent high-resolution analysis and re-analysis products of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Integrated Forecast System (ECMWF-IFS) show good agreement with the observations and allow for a detailed investigation of resolved gravity waves, their sources, and propagation paths. In this paper, we identify resolved gravity waves in the ECMWF-IFS analyses for a case of high gravity wave activity in the lower stratosphere using small-volume sinusoidal fits to characterise these gravity waves. The 3D wave vector together with perturbation amplitudes, wave frequency, and a fully described background atmosphere are then used to initialise the Gravity Wave Regional or Global Ray Tracer (GROGRAT) gravity wave ray tracer and follow the gravity waves backwards from the stratosphere. Finally, we check for the indication of source processes on the path of each ray and, thus, quantitatively attribute gravity waves to sources that are represented within the model. We find that stratospheric gravity waves are indeed subject to far (>1000 km) lateral displacement from their sources, which already take place at low altitudes (<20 km). Various source processes can be linked to waves within stratospheric gravity wave (GW) patterns, such as the orography equatorward of 50∘ S and non-orographic sources above the Southern Ocean. These findings may explain why superpressure balloons observe enhanced gravity wave momentum fluxes in the lower stratosphere over the Southern Ocean despite an apparent lack of sources at this latitude. Our results also support the need to improve gravity wave parameterisations to account for meridional propagation.

scholarly journals Studies on atmospheric gravity wave activity in the troposphere and lower stratosphere over a tropical station at Gadanki

2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 3237-3260 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. V. Subba Reddy ◽  
D. Narayana Rao ◽  
A. Narendra Babu ◽  
M. Venkat Ratnam ◽  
P. Kishore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Wave Length ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Lower Atmosphere ◽  
Wind Fields ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity Wave ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity

Abstract. MST radars are powerful tools to study the mesosphere, stratosphere and troposphere and have made considerable contributions to the studies of the dynamics of the upper, middle and lower atmosphere. Atmospheric gravity waves play a significant role in controlling middle and upper atmospheric dynamics. To date, frontal systems, convection, wind shear and topography have been thought to be the sources of gravity waves in the troposphere. All these studies pointed out that it is very essential to understand the generation, propagation and climatology of gravity waves. In this regard, several campaigns using Indian MST Radar observations have been carried out to explore the gravity wave activity over Gadanki in the troposphere and the lower stratosphere. The signatures of the gravity waves in the wind fields have been studied in four seasons viz., summer, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter. The large wind fluctuations were more prominent above 10 km during the summer and monsoon seasons. The wave periods are ranging from 10 min-175 min. The power spectral densities of gravity waves are found to be maximum in the stratospheric region. The vertical wavelength and the propagation direction of gravity waves were determined using hodograph analysis. The results show both down ward and upward propagating waves with a maximum vertical wave length of 3.3 km. The gravity wave associated momentum fluxes show that long period gravity waves carry more momentum flux than the short period waves and this is presented.

scholarly journals Stratospheric gravity waves at southern hemisphere orographic hotspots: 2003–2014 AIRS/Aqua observations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Alison W. Grimsdell ◽  
M. Joan Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Kerguelen Islands ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Stratospheric gravity waves from small-scale orographic sources are currently not well-represented in general circulation models. This may be a reason why many simulations have difficulty reproducing the dynamical behaviour of the southern hemisphere polar vortex in a realistic manner. Here we discuss a 12-year record (2003–2014) of stratospheric gravity wave activity at southern hemisphere orographic hotspots as observed by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Aqua satellite. We introduce a simple and effective approach, referred to as the "two-box method", to detect gravity wave activity from infrared nadir sounder measurements and to discriminate between gravity waves from orographic and other sources. From austral mid fall to mid spring (April–October) the contributions of orographic sources to the observed gravity wave occurrence frequencies were found to be largest for the Andes (90 %), followed by the Antarctic Peninsula (76 %), Kerguelen Islands (73 %), Tasmania (70 %), New Zealand (67 %), Heard Island (60 %), and other hotspots (24–54 %). Mountain wave activity was found to be closely correlated with peak terrain altitudes, and with zonal winds in the lower troposphere and mid stratosphere. We propose a simple model to predict the occurrence of mountain wave events in the AIRS observations using zonal wind thresholds at 3 hPa and 750 hPa. The model has significant predictive skill for hotspots where gravity wave activity is primarily due to orographic sources. It typically reproduces seasonal variations of the mountain wave occurrence frequencies at the Antarctic Peninsula and Kerguelen Islands from near zero to over 60 % with mean absolute errors of 4–5 percentage points. The prediction model can be used to disentangle upper level wind effects on observed occurrence frequencies from low level source and other influences. The data and methods presented here can help to identify interesting case studies in the vast amount of AIRS data, which could then be further explored to study the specific characteristics of stratospheric gravity waves from orographic sources and to support model validation.

scholarly journals Internal Gravity Wave Emission in Different Dynamical Regimes

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 1709-1730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manita Chouksey ◽  
Carsten Eden ◽  
Nils Brüggemann
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Internal Gravity Wave ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Full State ◽  
Dynamical Regimes ◽  
Wave Emission ◽  
Balanced Flow

AbstractWe aim to diagnose internal gravity waves emitted from balanced flow and investigate their role in the downscale transfer of energy. We use an idealized numerical model to simulate a range of baroclinically unstable flows to mimic dynamical regimes ranging from ageostrophic to quasigeostrophic flows. Wavelike signals present in the simulated flows, seen for instance in the vertical velocity, can be related to gravity wave activity identified by frequency and frequency–wavenumber spectra. To explicitly assign the energy contributions to the balanced and unbalanced (gravity) modes, we perform linear and nonlinear modal decomposition to decompose the full state variable into its balanced and unbalanced counterparts. The linear decomposition shows a reasonable separation of the slow and fast modes but is no longer valid when applied to a nonlinear system. To account for the nonlinearity in our system, we apply the normal mode initialization technique proposed by Machenhauer in 1977. Further, we assess the strength of the gravity wave activity and dissipation related to the decomposed modes for different dynamical regimes. We find that gravity wave emission becomes increasingly stronger going from quasigeostrophic to ageostrophic regime. The kinetic energy tied to the unbalanced mode scales close to Ro2 (or Ri−1), with Ro and Ri being the Rossby and Richardson numbers, respectively. Furthermore, internal gravity waves dissipate predominantly through small-scale dissipation, which emphasizes their role in the downscale energy transfer.

scholarly journals Gravity wave influence on NLC: experimental results from ALOMAR, 69° N

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 20049-20079
Author(s):  
H. Wilms ◽  
M. Rapp ◽  
P. Hoffmann ◽  
J. Fiedler ◽  
G. Baumgarten
Keyword(s):  
Kinetic Energy ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
Full Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Strong Activity ◽  
Volume Measurements ◽  
Weak Activity

Abstract. The influence of gravity waves on noctilucent clouds (NLC) at ALOMAR (69° N) is analyzed by relating gravity wave activity to NLC occurrence from common-volume measurements. Gravity wave kinetic energies are derived from MF-radar wind data and filtered into different period ranges by wavelet transformation. From the data set covering the years 1999–2011 a direct correlation between gravity wave kinetic energy and NLC occurrence is not found. I.e., NLC appear independently of the simultaneously measured gravity wave kinetic energy. In addition, gravity wave activity is divided into weak and strong activity as compared to a 13 yr mean. The NLC occurrence rates during strong and weak activity are calculated separately for a given wave period and compared to each other. Again, for the full data set no dependence of NLC occurrence on relative gravity wave activity is found. However, concentrating on 12 h of NLC detections during 2008, we do find an NLC-amplification with strong long-period gravity wave occurrence. Our analysis hence confirms previous findings that in general NLC at ALOMAR are not predominantly driven by gravity waves while exceptions to this rule are at least possible.

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