Brian Laughman

The Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE): An Airborne and Ground-Based Exploration of Gravity Wave Propagation and Effects from Their Sources throughout the Lower and Middle Atmosphere

AbstractThe Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE) was designed to quantify gravity wave (GW) dynamics and effects from orographic and other sources to regions of dissipation at high altitudes. The core DEEPWAVE field phase took place from May through July 2014 using a comprehensive suite of airborne and ground-based instruments providing measurements from Earth’s surface to ∼100 km. Austral winter was chosen to observe deep GW propagation to high altitudes. DEEPWAVE was based on South Island, New Zealand, to provide access to the New Zealand and Tasmanian “hotspots” of GW activity and additional GW sources over the Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea. To observe GWs up to ∼100 km, DEEPWAVE utilized three new instruments built specifically for the National Science Foundation (NSF)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Gulfstream V (GV): a Rayleigh lidar, a sodium resonance lidar, and an advanced mesosphere temperature mapper. These measurements were supplemented by in situ probes, dropson...

Gravity wave effects on postsunset equatorial F region stability

The influence of gravity waves on the stability of the postsunset equatorial F region ionosphere is investigated numerically. For this investigation, we use the output of a direct numerical simulation of waves and turbulence in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere to force a simulation of ionospheric dynamics. Both simulations are cast in three dimensions. The effectiveness of the neutral-plasma coupling involved is generally thought to depend on the dynamo efficiency and spatial resonance of the forcing, which we evaluate. In our simulations, the postsunset equatorial ionosphere could be deformed by neutral waves after 5–15 min most severely when the wavefronts were aligned approximately with the magnetic meridian, despite the fact that the dynamo efficiency is modest even in that case. However, poor spatial resonance limits the subsequent growth of the deformations in our simulations, and the seeding of interchange instabilities does not occur. The coupled simulations predict the formation of intermediate layers in the equatorial valley region (150–250 km apex altitude) under some circumstances that could serve as telltales in nature of the presence of the kind of neutral forcing we simulate.

The spread F Experiment (SpreadFEx): Program overview and first results

We performed an extensive experimental campaign (the spread F Experiment, or SpreadFEx) from September to November 2005 to attempt to define the role of neutral atmosphere dynamics, specifically wave motions propagating upward from the lower atmosphere, in seeding equatorial spread F and plasma bubbles extending to higher altitudes. Campaign measurements focused on the Brazilian sector and included ground-based optical, radar, digisonde, and GPS measurements at a number of fixed and temporary sites. Related data on convection and plasma bubble structures were also collected by GOES 12 and the GUVI instrument aboard the TIMED satellite. Initial results of our analyses of SpreadFEx and related data indicate 1) extensive gravity wave (GW) activity apparently linked to deep convection predominantly to the west of our measurement sites, 2) the presence of small-scale GWactivity confined to lower altitudes, 3) larger-scaleGWactivity apparently penetrating to much higher altitudes suggested by electron density and TEC fluctuations in the E and F regions, 4) substantial GW amplitudes implied by digisonde electron densities, and 5) apparent direct links of these perturbations in the lower F region to spread F and plasma bubbles extending to much higher altitudes. Related efforts with correlative data are defining 6) the occurrence and locations of deep convection, 7) the spatial and temporal evolutions of plasma bubbles, the 8) 2D (height-resolved) structures of plasma bubbles, and 9) the expected propagation of GWs and tides from the lower atmosphere into the thermosphere and ionosphere.

Gravity Wave Dynamics in a Mesospheric Inversion Layer: 2. Instabilities, Turbulence, Fluxes, and Mixing

A companion paper by Fritts et al. [2017a] employed an anelastic numerical model to explore the dynamics of gravity waves (GWs) encountering a mesospheric inversion layer (MIL) having a moderate static stability enhancement and a layer of weaker static stability above. That study revealed that MIL responses, including GW transmission, reflection, and instabilities, are sensitive functions of GW parameters. This paper expands on two of the Fritts et al. [2017a] simulations to examine GW instability dynamics and turbulence in the MIL, forcing of the mean wind and stability environments by GW, instability, and turbulence fluxes, and associated heat and momentum transports. These direct numerical simulations resolve turbulence inertial-range scales and yield the following results: GW breaking and turbulence in the MIL occur below where they would otherwise due to enhancements of GW amplitudes and shears in the MIL, 2D GW and instability heat and momentum fluxes are ~20-30 times larger than 3D instability and turbulence fluxes, mean fields are driven largely by 2D GW and instability dynamics rather than 3D instabilities and turbulence, 2D and 3D heat fluxes in regions of strong turbulence yield small departures from initial T(z) and N2(z) profiles, hence do not yield nearly adiabatic “mixed” layers, and our MIL results are consistent with the relation between the turbulent vertical velocity variance and energy dissipation rate proposed by Weinstock [1981] for the limited intervals evaluated.

Gravity Wave Dynamics in a Mesospheric Inversion Layer: 1. Reflection, Trapping, and Instability Dynamics

Abstract An anelastic numerical model is employed to explore the dynamics of gravity waves (GWs) encountering a mesosphere inversion layer (MIL) having a moderate static stability enhancement and a layer of weaker static stability above. Instabilities occur within the MIL when the GW amplitude approaches that required for GW breaking due to compression of the vertical wavelength accompanying the increasing static stability. Thus, MILs can cause large‐amplitude GWs to yield instabilities and turbulence below the altitude where they would otherwise arise. Smaller‐amplitude GWs encountering a MIL do not lead to instability and turbulence but do exhibit partial reflection and transmission, and the transmission is a smaller fraction of the incident GW when instabilities and turbulence arise within the MIL. Additionally, greater GW transmission occurs for weaker MILs and for GWs having larger vertical wavelengths relative to the MIL depth and for lower GW intrinsic frequencies. These results imply similar dynamics for inversions due to other sources, including the tropopause inversion layer, the high stability capping the polar summer mesopause, and lower frequency GWs or tides having sufficient amplitudes to yield significant variations in stability at large and small vertical scales. MILs also imply much stronger reflections and less coherent GW propagation in environments having significant fine structure in the stability and velocity fields than in environments that are smoothly varying.

Gravity wave-induced ionospheric irregularities in the postsunset equatorial valley region†

Plasma irregularities in the postsunset equatorial valley region ionosphere are investigated experimentally and through numerical simulation. Coherent radar backscatter observed at the Jicamarca Radio Observatory shows two classes of irregularities in different altitude bands – one mainly below about 125 km and the other mainly above. Irregularities in both bands are organized into wavefronts with wavelengths of a few km. However, only the irregularities in the high-altitude band exhibit consistent propagation speeds and directions. Some previous observations of irregularities in the nighttime electrojet suggest that gravity waves may sometimes influence their morphology. The possibility that the valley-region irregularities are also related to gravity waves (GWs) is therefore investigated numerically. A model of a GW packet propagating through a tidal wind field is used to drive another model which predicts the resulting ionospheric electrodynamics. The combined simulation shows that GWs can induce field-aligned currrents and excite resistive drift waves which could be responsible for the valley-region irregularities in the high-altitude band. The GWs also induce irregularities in the upper E region directly through simple dynamo action which subsequently deform under the influence of shear flow. This may explain the irregularities in the low-altitude band.

Tsunami-driven gravity waves in the presence of vertically varying background and tidal wind structures

Many characteristics of tsunami-driven gravity waves (TDGWs) enable them to easily propagate into the thermosphere and ionosphere with appreciable amplitudes capable of producing detectable perturbations in electron densities and total electron content (TEC). The impact of vertically varying background and tidal wind structures on TDGW propagation is investigated with a series of idealized background wind profiles to assess the relative importance of wave reflection, critical-level approach, and dissipation. These numerical simulations employ a 2D non-linear anelastic finite-volume neutral atmosphere model which accounts for effects accompanying vertical GW propagation such as amplitude growth with altitude. The GWs are excited by an idealized tsunami forcing with a 50 cm sea-surface displacement, a 400 km horizontal wavelength, and a phase speed of 200 ms-1 consistent with previous studies of the tsunami generated by the 26 December 2004 Sumatra earthquake. Results indicate that, rather than partial reflection and trapping, the dominant process governing TDGW propagation to thermospheric altitudes is refraction to larger and smaller vertical scales, resulting in respectively larger and smaller vertical group velocities and respectively reduced and increased viscous dissipation. Under all considered background wind profiles TDGWs were able to attain ionospheric altitudes with appreciable amplitudes. Finally, evidence of non-linear effects is observed and the conditions leading to their formation is discussed.

Solitary Waves and Undular Bores in a Mesosphere Duct

AbstractMesospheric bores have been observed and measured in the mesopause region near 100-km altitude, where they propagate horizontally along a duct of relatively strong density stratification. Here, a weakly nonlinear theory is developed for the description of these mesospheric bores. It extends previous theories by allowing internal gravity wave radiation from the duct into the surrounding stratified regions, which are formally assumed to be weakly stratified. The radiation away from the duct is expected to be important for bore energetics. The theory is compared with a numerical simulation of the full Navier–Stokes equations in the Boussinesq approximation. Two initial conditions are considered. The first is a solitary wave solution that would propagate without change of form if the region outside the duct were unstratified. The second is a sinusoid that evolves into an undular bore. The main conclusion is that, while solitary waves and undular bores decay by radiation from the duct, they can survive...

Major upwelling and overturning in the mid-latitude F region ionosphere

Profiles of the electron number density in the ionosphere are observed at the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico on a regular basis. Here, we report on recent observations showing anomalous irregularities in the density profiles at altitudes >~300 km. The irregularities occurred during a period of “mid-latitude spread F,” a space-weather phenomenon relatively common at middle latitudes in summer months characterized by instability and electron density irregularities in the bottomside of the ionospheric F layer. Remarkably, electron density irregularities extended well above the layer, through the ionization peak and into the topside which is regarded as being stable. Neither the neutral atmosphere nor the ionosphere is thought to be able to support turbulence locally at this altitude. A numerical simulation is used to illustrate how a combination of atmospheric and plasma dynamics driven at lower altitudes could explain the phenomenon.The ionosphere can give rise to irregularities that can interfere with radio communication, navigation and satellite systems. Here the authors present unique observations from the Arecibo Radio Observatory in Puerto Rico to reveal the existence of plasma irregularities occur in the mid-latitude F-region.