scholarly journals Eastward-propagating planetary wave in the polar middle atmosphere

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Tang ◽  
Sheng-Yang Gu ◽  
Xian-Kang Dou
Keyword(s):  
Zonal Wind ◽  
Planetary Wave ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Flow Instability ◽  
Diagnostic Analysis ◽  
Background Wind ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Zonal Wavenumber ◽  
Critical Layers ◽  
The Mean

Abstract. We presented the global variations of the eastward propagating wavenumber 1 (E1), 2 (E2), 3 (E3), and 4 (E4) planetary waves (PWs) and their diagnostic results in the polar middle atmosphere, using MERRA-2 temperature and wind datasets in 2019. It is clearly shown that the eastward wave modes exist during winter periods with westward background wind in both hemispheres. The maximum wave amplitudes in the southern hemisphere (SH) are slightly larger and lie lower than those in the northern hemisphere (NH). It is also found that the wave perturbations peak at lower latitudes with smaller amplitude as the wavenumber increases. The period of the E1 mode varies from 3 to 5 days in both hemispheres, while the period of E2 mode is slightly longer in the NH (48 h) than in the SH (40 h). The periods of the E3 are ~30 h in both SH and NH, and the period of E4 is ~24 h. Though the wave periods become shorter as the wavenumber increases, their mean phase speeds are relatively stable, which are ~53, ~58, ~55, and ~52 m/s at 70° latitudes for W1, W2, W3, and W4, respectively. The eastward PWs occur earlier with increasing zonal wavenumber, which agrees well with the seasonal variations of the background zonal wind through the generation of critical layers. Diagnostic analysis also shows that the mean flow instability in the upper stratosphere and upper mesosphere may both contribute to the amplification of the eastward PWs.

scholarly journals Eastward-propagating planetary waves in the polar middle atmosphere

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 17495-17512
Author(s):  
Liang Tang ◽  
Sheng-Yang Gu ◽  
Xian-Kang Dou
Keyword(s):  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Flow Instability ◽  
Planetary Waves ◽  
Background Wind ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Zonal Wavenumber ◽  
Critical Layers ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Research Analysis

Abstract. According to Modern-Era Retrospective Research Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) temperature and wind datasets in 2019, this study presents the global variations in the eastward-propagating wavenumber 1 (E1), 2 (E2), 3 (E3) and 4 (E4) planetary waves (PWs) and their diagnostic results in the polar middle atmosphere. We clearly demonstrate the eastward wave modes exist during winter periods with westward background wind in both hemispheres. The maximum wave amplitudes in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) are slightly larger and lie lower than those in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Moreover, the wave perturbations peak at lower latitudes with smaller amplitudes as the wavenumber increases. The period of the E1 mode varies between 3–5 d in both hemispheres, while the period of the E2 mode is slightly longer in the NH (∼ 48 h) than in the SH (∼ 40 h). The periods of the E3 are ∼ 30 h in both the SH and the NH, and the period of E4 is ∼ 24 h. Despite the shortening of wave periods with the increase in wavenumber, their mean phase speeds are relatively stable, ∼ 53, ∼ 58, ∼ 55 and ∼ 52 m/s at 70∘ latitudes for E1, E2, E3 and E4, respectively. The eastward PWs occur earlier with increasing zonal wavenumber, which agrees well with the seasonal variations in the critical layers generated by the background wind. Our diagnostic analysis also indicates that the mean flow instability in the upper stratosphere and upper mesosphere might contribute to the amplification of the eastward PWs.

scholarly journals Investigation of dominant traveling 10-day wave components using long-term MERRA-2 database

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunming Huang ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Shaodong Zhang ◽  
Gang Chen ◽  
Kaiming Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Instability ◽  
Transmission Condition ◽  
Wave Number ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Excited Wave ◽  
Propagating Waves ◽  
Zonal Wave Number ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe eastward- and westward-traveling 10-day waves with zonal wavenumbers up to 6 from surface to the middle mesosphere during the recent 12 years from 2007 to 2018 are deduced from MERRA-2 data. On the basis of climatology study, the westward-propagating wave with zonal wave number 1 (W1) and eastward-propagating waves with zonal wave numbers 1 (E1) and 2 (E2) are identified as the dominant traveling ones. They are all active at mid- and high-latitudes above the troposphere and display notable month-to-month variations. The W1 and E2 waves are strong in the NH from December to March and in the SH from June to October, respectively, while the E1 wave is active in the SH from August to October and also in the NH from December to February. Further case study on E1 and E2 waves shows that their latitude–altitude structures are dependent on the transmission condition of the background atmosphere. The presence of these two waves in the stratosphere and mesosphere might have originated from the downward-propagating wave excited in the mesosphere by the mean flow instability, the upward-propagating wave from the troposphere, and/or in situ excited wave in the stratosphere. The two eastward waves can exert strong zonal forcing on the mean flow in the stratosphere and mesosphere in specific periods. Compared with E2 wave, the dramatic forcing from the E1 waves is located in the poleward regions.

scholarly journals Southern Annular Mode Dynamics in Observations and Models. Part II: Eddy Feedbacks

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 5220-5241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isla R. Simpson ◽  
Theodore G. Shepherd ◽  
Peter Hitchcock ◽  
John F. Scinocca
Keyword(s):  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Planetary Wave ◽  
Southern Annular Mode ◽  
Summer Season ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Annular Mode ◽  
Planetary Scale ◽  
Zonal Wavenumber ◽  
Climatological Circulation

Abstract Many global climate models (GCMs) have trouble simulating southern annular mode (SAM) variability correctly, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere summer season where it tends to be too persistent. In this two-part study, a suite of experiments with the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) is analyzed to improve the understanding of the dynamics of SAM variability and its deficiencies in GCMs. Here, an examination of the eddy–mean flow feedbacks is presented by quantification of the feedback strength as a function of zonal scale and season using a new methodology that accounts for intraseasonal forcing of the SAM. In the observed atmosphere, in the summer season, a strong negative feedback by planetary-scale waves, in particular zonal wavenumber 3, is found in a localized region in the southwest Pacific. It cancels a large proportion of the positive feedback by synoptic- and smaller-scale eddies in the zonal mean, resulting in a very weak overall eddy feedback on the SAM. CMAM is deficient in this negative feedback by planetary-scale waves, making a substantial contribution to its bias in summertime SAM persistence. Furthermore, this bias is not alleviated by artificially improving the climatological circulation, suggesting that climatological circulation biases are not the cause of the planetary wave feedback deficiency in the model. Analysis of the summertime eddy feedbacks in the models from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) confirms that this is indeed a common problem among GCMs, suggesting that understanding this planetary wave feedback and the reason for its deficiency in GCMs is key to improving the fidelity of simulated SAM variability in the summer season.

scholarly journals On the Wave Spectrum Generated by Tropical Heating

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (9) ◽  
pp. 2042-2060 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Ortland ◽  
M. Joan Alexander ◽  
Alison W. Grimsdell
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Nonlinear Models ◽  
Wave Spectrum ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Temperature Structure ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Quasi Biennial Oscillation ◽  
Wave Response ◽  
Zonal Wavenumber ◽  
The Mean

Abstract Convective heating profiles are computed from one month of rainfall rate and cloud-top height measurements using global Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and infrared cloud-top products. Estimates of the tropical wave response to this heating and the mean flow forcing by the waves are calculated using linear and nonlinear models. With a spectral resolution up to zonal wavenumber 80 and frequency up to 4 cpd, the model produces 50%–70% of the zonal wind acceleration required to drive a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). The sensitivity of the wave spectrum to the assumed shape of the heating profile, to the mean wind and temperature structure of the tropical troposphere, and to the type of model used is also examined. The redness of the heating spectrum implies that the heating strongly projects onto Hough modes with small equivalent depth. Nonlinear models produce wave flux significantly smaller than linear models due to what appear to be dynamical processes that limit the wave amplitude. Both nonlinearity and mean winds in the lower stratosphere are effective in reducing the Rossby wave response to heating relative to the response in a linear model for a mean state at rest.

Critical layers in accelerating two-layer flows

1988 ◽  
Vol 197 ◽  
pp. 429-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald B. Altman
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Single Mode ◽  
Shear Instability ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Velocity Measurements ◽  
Interfacial Wave ◽  
Flow Acceleration ◽  
Critical Layers ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Processing Software

A series of laboratory experiments on accelerating two-layer shear flows over topography is described. The mean flow reverses at the interface of the layers, forcing a critical layer to occur there. It is found that for a sufficiently thin interface, a slowly growing recirculating region, the ‘acceleration rotor’, develops on the interfacial wave at mean-flow Richardson numbers of O(0.5). This, in turn, can induce a secondary dynamical shear instability on the trailing edge of the wave. A single-mode, linear, two-layer numerical model reproduces many features of the acceleration rotor if mean-flow acceleration and bottom forcing are included. Velocity measurements are obtained from photographs using image processing software developed for the automated reading of particle-streak photographs. Typical results are shown.

Final Sudden Stratospheric Warmings and the memory of the stratosphere

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Hauchecorne ◽  
Chantal Claud ◽  
Philippe Keckhut
Keyword(s):  
Zonal Wind ◽  
Planetary Wave ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Temperature Anomaly ◽  
Polar Vortex ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Easterly Wind ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Stratospheric Circulation

<p>Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) is the most spectacular dynamic event occurring in the middle atmosphere. It can lead to a warming of the winter polar stratosphere by a few tens of K in one to two weeks and a reversal of the stratospheric circulation from wintertime prevailing westerly winds to easterly winds similar to summer conditions. This strong modification of the stratospheric circulation has consequences for several applications, including the modification of the stratospheric infrasound guide. Depending on the date of the SSW, the westerly circulation can be re-established if the SSW occurs in mid-winter or the summer easterly circulation can be definitively established if the SSW occurs in late winter. In the latter case it is called Final Warming (FW). Each year, it is possible to define the date of the FW as the date of the final inversion of the zonal wind at 60°N - 10 hPa . If the FW is associated with a strong peak of planetary wave activity and a rapid increase in polar temperature, it is classified as dynamic FW. If the transition to the easterly wind is smooth without planetary wave activity, the FW is classified as radiative.</p><p>The analysis of the ERA5 database, which has recently been extended to 1950 (71 years of data), allowed a statistical analysis of the evolution of the stratosphere in winter. The main conclusions of this study will be presented :</p><p>- the state of the polar vortex in a given month is anticorrelated with its state 2 to 3 months earlier. The beginning of winter is anticorrelated with mid-winter and mid-winter is anticorrelated with the end of winter;</p><p>- dynamic FWs occur early in the season (March - early April) and are associated with a strong positive polar temperature anomaly, while radiative FWs occur later (late April - early May) without a polar temperature anomaly;</p><p>- the summer stratosphere (polar temperature and zonal wind) keeps the memory of its state in April-May at the time of FW at least until July .</p><p>These results could help to improve medium-range weather forecasts in the Northern Hemisphere due to the strong dynamic coupling between the troposphere and stratosphere during SSW events.</p>

Sensitivity of middle atmosphere GW forcing to vertical model resolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Schneidereit ◽  
Hauke Schmidt ◽  
Claudia Stephan
Keyword(s):  
Zonal Wind ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Wave Spectrum ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Vertical Gradient ◽  
Summer Season ◽  
Grid Spacing ◽  
Flux Divergence ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Horizontal Grid

<p>Several current general atmospheric circulation models provide sufficiently high resolutions to resolve important parts of the internal gravity wave spectrum allowing for numerical experiments without GW drag parameterizations. GWs start to be well resolved from horizontal wavelengths of about 7 times the horizontal grid spacing. How much does the resolved wave spectrum and its forcing on the mean circulation depend on the vertical resolution?</p><p>−1,The middle atmosphere summer hemisphere provides a suitable background to investigate this question. The mean stratospheric and mesospheric circulation is characterised by prevailing easterlies which prevent planetary wave propagation upwards and represents a mean state driven by IGWs. The sensitivity of the forcing by IGWs is analysed on the basis of the Eliassen-Palm (EP) flux divergence, which describes the forcing on the circulation by resolved eddies.<br>Model simulations are performed using the upper atmosphere version of the ICON (ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic) general circulation model, UA-ICON (Borchert et al. 2019, GMD). The simulations start in October and run for an extended austral summer season until March with a horizontal grid spacing of roughly 20 km. The top of the model atmosphere is located at 150 km. Three different model configurations are used with 90, 180, and 360 vertical model layers. The mean vertical grid spacing ranges from roughly 1300 m (90 layers) to 320 m (360 layers) at stratospheric levels, and from roughly 2300 m to 500 m at mesospheric levels. Gravity wave drag parameterizations (orographic and non-orographic) are turned off. The resolved forcing on the mean state due to the EP flux divergence is decomposed into contributions of different scales with respect to horizontal wave numbers. For contributions of IGWs wave numbers above 20 are considered.</p><p>The stratospheric and mesospheric easterlies appear stronger in the lower resolution from October to the end of the austral summer season. Westerlies occur above the mesopause. This strong vertical gradient in the zonal mean zonal wind amplifies in the lower resolution. At the beginning of the simulation period, differences between the mean states are weak, of the order of 5 ms<sup>−1</sup> , and strengthen during the summer season. The forcing due to internal GWs appears stronger in the lower resolution at higher altitudes and amplifies in the region of the strong vertical gradient of the zonal mean zonal wind. Furthermore, wave spectra are discussed. In accordance with previous studies, an increased vertical resolution results in a reduction of the IGW forcing close to strong zonal mean zonal wind gradients in the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere.</p>

Application of the IDEMIX Concept for Internal Gravity Waves in the Atmosphere

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 3601-3618
Author(s):  
B. Quinn ◽  
C. Eden ◽  
D. Olbers
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Wave Field ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Momentum Flux ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Internal Gravity Waves ◽  
Wave Drag ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe model Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy and Mixing (IDEMIX) presents a novel way of parameterizing internal gravity waves in the atmosphere. IDEMIX is based on the spectral energy balance of the wave field and has previously been successfully developed as a model for diapycnal diffusivity, induced by internal gravity wave breaking in oceans. Applied here for the first time to atmospheric gravity waves, integration of the energy balance equation for a continuous wave field of a given spectrum, results in prognostic equations for the energy density of eastward and westward gravity waves. It includes their interaction with the mean flow, allowing for an evolving and local description of momentum flux and gravity wave drag. A saturation mechanism maintains the wave field within convective stability limits, and a closure for critical-layer effects controls how much wave flux propagates from the troposphere into the middle atmosphere. Offline comparisons to a traditional parameterization reveal increases in the wave momentum flux in the middle atmosphere due to the mean-flow interaction, resulting in a greater gravity wave drag at lower altitudes. Preliminary validation against observational data show good agreement with momentum fluxes.

On the non-separable baroclinic parallel flow instability problem

1970 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Flow Instability ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
Perturbation Series ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Horizontal Shear ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Wave Regime ◽  
Parallel Flows ◽  
The Mean

Perturbation series are developed and mathematically justified, using a straightforward perturbation formalism (that is more widely applicable than those given in standard textbooks), for the case of the two-dimensional inviscid Orr-Sommerfeld-like eigenvalue problem describing quasi-geostrophic wave instabilities of parallel flows in rotating stratified fluids.The results are first used to examine the instability properties of the perturbed Eady problem, in which the zonal velocity profile has the formu=z+ μu1(y,z) where, formally, μ [Lt ] 1. The connexion between baroclinic instability theories with and without short wave cutoffs is clarified. In particular, it is established rigorously that there is instability at short wavelengths in all cases for which such instability would be expected from the ‘critical layer’ argument of Bretherton. (Therefore the apparently conflicting results obtained earlier by Pedlosky are in error.)For the class of profiles of formu=z+ μu1(y) it is then shown from an examination of theO(μ) eigenfunction correction why, under certain conditions, growing baroclinic waves will always produce a counter-gradient horizontal eddy flux of zonal momentum tending to reinforce the horizontal shear of such profiles. Finally, by computing a sufficient number of the higher corrections, this first-order result is shown to remain true, and its relationship to the actual rate of change of the mean flow is also displayed, for a particular jet-like form of profile withfinitehorizontal shear. The latter detailed results may help to explain at least one interesting feature of the mean flow found in a recent numerical solution for the wave régime in a heated rotating annulus.

Wave propagation and transport in the middle atmosphere

1980 ◽  
Vol 296 (1418) ◽  
pp. 73-85 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Wave Propagation ◽  
Middle Atmosphere ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Planetary Waves ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Flow Interaction ◽  
Wave Transport ◽  
Equatorial Wave ◽  
The Mean

The dynamics of wave propagation and wave transport are reviewed for vertically propagating, forced, planetary scale waves in the middle atmosphere. Such waves can be divided into two major classes: extratropical planetary waves and equatorial waves. The most important waves of the former class are quasi-stationary Rossby modes of zonal wave numbers 1 and 2 (1 or 2 waves around a latitude circle), which propagate vertically only during the w inter season when the m ean winds are westerly. These modes transport heat and ozone towards the poles, thus maintaining the mean temperature above its radiative equilibrium value in high latitudes and producing the high latitude ozone maximum . It is shown that these wave transport processes depend on wave transience and wave dam ping. The precise form of this dependency is illustrated for transport of a strongly stratified tracer by small amplitude planetary waves. The observed equatorial wave modes are of two types: an eastward propagating Kelvin m ode and a westward propagating mixed Rossby—gravity mode. These modes are therm ally damped in the stratosphere where they interact with the mean flow to produce eastward and westward accelerations, respectively. It is shown tha t in the absence of mechanical dissipation this wave—mean flow interaction is caused by the vertical divergence of a wave ‘radiation stress’. This wave—mean flow interaction process is responsible for producing the well known equatorial quasi-biennial oscillation.

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