A global morphology of gravity wave activity in the stratosphere revealed by the 8‐year SABER/TIMED data

Zhang, Y.; Xiong, Juan; Liu, Libo; Wan, W.

doi:10.1029/2012jd017676

Cited by 45 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Accounting for this factor does not lead to a harmonization of the findings. This is likely to be an effect of Esrange's location downstream of the Scandinavian mountain ridge which substantially increases the potential for observing higher gravity wave activity (Zhang et al, 2012 The decrease of GWPED from high latitudes (larger than 60…”

Section: From 90mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term lidar observations of wintertime gravity wave activity over northern Sweden

2014

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Abstract. This paper presents an analysis of gravity wave activity over northern Sweden as deduced from 18 years of wintertime lidar measurements at Esrange (68 • N, 21 • E). Gravity wave potential energy density (GWPED) was used to characterize the strength of gravity waves in the altitude regions 30-40 km and 40-50 km. The obtained values exceed previous observations reported in the literature. This is suggested to be due to Esrange's location downwind of the Scandinavian mountain range and due to differences in the various methods that are currently used to retrieve gravity wave parameters. The analysis method restricted the identification of the dominating vertical wavelengths to a range from 2 to 13 km. No preference was found for any wavelength in this window. Monthly mean values of GW-PED show that most of the gravity waves' energy dissipates well below the stratopause and that higher altitude regions show only small dissipation rates of GWPED. Our analysis does not reproduce the previously reported negative trend in gravity wave activity over Esrange. The observed interannual variability of GWPED is connected to the occurrence of stratospheric warmings with generally lower wintertime mean GWPED during years with major stratospheric warmings. A bimodal GWPED occurrence frequency indicates that gravity wave activity at Esrange is affected by both ubiquitous wave sources and orographic forcing.

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Section: From 90mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term lidar observations of wintertime gravity wave activity over northern Sweden

2014

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“…SABER has also been used for a vast range of gravity-wave studies, e.g. Krebsbach and Preusse (2007); Preusse et al (2009);Schroeder et al (2009);John and Kumar (2012); Zhang et al (2012); Ern et al (2011) and Ern et al (2014).…”

Section: Sabermentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-instrument gravity-wave measurements over Tierra del Fuego and the Drake Passage – Part 1: Potential energies and vertical wavelengths from AIRS, COSMIC, HIRDLS, MLS-Aura, SAAMER, SABER and radiosondes

2016

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Abstract. Gravity waves in the terrestrial atmosphere are a vital geophysical process, acting to transport energy and momentum on a wide range of scales and to couple the various atmospheric layers. Despite the importance of these waves, the many studies to date have often exhibited very dissimilar results, and it remains unclear whether these differences are primarily instrumental or methodological. Here, we address this problem by comparing observations made by a diverse range of the most widely used gravity-wave-resolving instruments in a common geographic region around the southern Andes and Drake Passage, an area known to exhibit strong wave activity. Specifically, we use data from three limbsounding radiometers (Microwave Limb Sounder, MLSAura; HIgh Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder, HIRDLS; Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry, SABER), the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) GPS-RO constellation, a ground-based meteor radar, the Advanced Infrared Sounder (AIRS) infrared nadir sounder and radiosondes to examine the gravity wave potential energy (GWPE) and vertical wavelengths (λ z ) of individual gravity-wave packets from the lower troposphere to the edge of the lower thermosphere ( ∼ 100 km). Our results show important similarities and differences. Limb sounder measurements show high intercorrelation, typically > 0.80 between any instrument pair. Meteor radar observations agree in form with the limb sounders, despite vast technical differences. AIRS and radiosonde observations tend to be uncorrelated or anticorrelated with the other data sets, suggesting very different behaviour of the wave field in the different spectral regimes accessed by each instrument. Evidence of wave dissipation is seen, and varies strongly with season. Observed GWPE for individual wave packets exhibits a log-normal distribution, with short-timescale intermittency dominating over a wellrepeated monthly-median seasonal cycle. GWPE and λ z exhibit strong correlations with the stratospheric winds, but not with local surface winds. Our results provide guidance for interpretation and intercomparison of such data sets in their full context.

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“…Zhang et al, 2012). Here, we focus on GWs generated by deep convection, with the aim of quantifying horizontal momentum fluxes (HMFs) and wave drag forces above convective cells, as well as the amount of potential energy transported in the upper levels of the stratosphere.…”

Section: Purposes and Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Convective gravity wave propagation and breaking in the stratosphere: comparison between WRF model simulations and lidar data

et al. 2015

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Abstract. In this work we perform numerical simulations of convective gravity waves (GWs), using the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model. We first run an idealized, simplified and highly resolved simulation with model top at 80 km. Below 60 km of altitude, a vertical grid spacing smaller than 1 km is supposed to reliably resolve the effects of GW breaking. An eastward linear wind shear interacts with the GW field generated by a single convective thunderstorm. After 70 min of integration time, averaging within a radius of 300 km from the storm centre, results show that wave breaking in the upper stratosphere is largely dominated by saturation effects, driving an average drag force up to −41 m s −1 day −1 . In the lower stratosphere, mean wave drag is positive and equal to 4.4 m s −1 day −1 .In a second step, realistic WRF simulations are compared with lidar measurements from the NDACC network (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Changes) of gravity wave potential energy (E p ) over OHP (Haute-Provence Observatory, southern France). Using a vertical grid spacing smaller than 1 km below 50 km of altitude, WRF seems to reliably reproduce the effect of GW dynamics and capture qualitative aspects of wave momentum and energy propagation and transfer to background mean flow. Averaging within a radius of 120 km from the storm centre, the resulting drag force for the study case (2 h storm) is negative in the higher (−1 m s −1 day −1 ) and positive in the lower stratosphere (0.23 m s −1 day −1 ).Vertical structures of simulated potential energy profiles are found to be in good agreement with those measured by lidar. E p is mostly conserved with altitude in August while, in October, E p decreases in the upper stratosphere to grow again in the lower mesosphere. On the other hand, the magnitude of simulated wave energy is clearly underestimated with respect to lidar data by about 3-4 times.

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A global morphology of gravity wave activity in the stratosphere revealed by the 8‐year SABER/TIMED data

Cited by 45 publications

References 38 publications

Long-term lidar observations of wintertime gravity wave activity over northern Sweden

Long-term lidar observations of wintertime gravity wave activity over northern Sweden

Multi-instrument gravity-wave measurements over Tierra del Fuego and the Drake Passage – Part 1: Potential energies and vertical wavelengths from AIRS, COSMIC, HIRDLS, MLS-Aura, SAAMER, SABER and radiosondes

Convective gravity wave propagation and breaking in the stratosphere: comparison between WRF model simulations and lidar data

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