M. Joan Alexander

Gravity waves in the tropical lower stratosphere: An observational study of seasonal and interannual variability

Radiosonde observations made at Cocos Islands (12°S, 97°E) in the Indian Ocean between September 1992 and June 1998 are used to study seasonal and interannual variations in gravity wave activity in the lower stratosphere (18–25 km). The islands are located in a region of generally strong convection that occurs at all times of the year, with the period of strongest convective activity between December and July (wet season). The prevailing zonal winds during the observational period and height range are westward with a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) superimposed. Time series of wave energy show that largest wave amplitudes occur during the wet season when convection is strongest, but a QBO-like variation is also apparent. Maximum energy densities of about 25 J kg−1 occur early 1993, 1995, and 1997 at the times when the westward shears are largest. Wave energy is found to be propagating upward, and in the horizontal there is considerable azimuthal anisotropy, with predominate eastward propagation against the prevailing wind. Upward fluxes of zonal momentum flux (u′w′¯) are estimated by combining the temperature and wind information. Fluxes show a similar temporal behavior to the energy. The motion and temperature fields are dominated by waves with vertical wavelengths ∼2 km. Using a Stokes parameter analysis, it is found that the intrinsic frequencies are, on average, 2–3 times the inertial frequency, corresponding to intrinsic periods of 20–25 hours. Horizontal wavelengths between 200 and 2000 km are inferred, with a mean value of about 1000 km. The mean intrinsic phase speeds are about 10 ms−1, but ground-based phase speeds are centered on 0 ms−1.

Microwave Limb Sounder observations of gravity waves in the stratosphere: A climatology and interpretation

High-horizontal-resolution temperature data from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are analyzed to obtain information about high intrinsic frequency gravity waves in the stratosphere. Global climatologies of temperature variance at solstice are computed using six years of data. A linear gravity wave model is used to interpret the satellite measurements and to infer information about tropospheric wave sources. Globally uniform sources having several different spectral shapes are examined and the computed variances are filtered in three-dimensional space in a manner that simulates the MLS weighting functions. The model is able to reproduce the observed zonal mean structure, thus indicating that the observations reflect changes in background wind speeds and provide little information about the latitudinal variation of wave sources. Longitudinal variations in the summer hemisphere do reflect source variations since the modeled variances exhibit much less variation in this direction as a consequence of the zonal symmetry of the background winds. A close correspondence between the MLS variances and satellite observations of outgoing-longwave radiation suggests that deep convection is the probable source for these waves. The large variances observed over the tip of South America in winter are most certainly linked to orographic forcing but inferences about wave sources in Northern Hemisphere winter are difficult to make as a result of the high degree of longitudinal and temporal variability in the stratospheric winds. Comparisons of model results using different source spectra suggest that the tropospheric sources in the subtropics in summer have a broader phase speed spectrum than do sources at middle latitudes in winter.

A Comparison between Gravity Wave Momentum Fluxes in Observations and Climate Models

Forthefirsttime,aformalcomparisonismadebetweengravitywavemomentumfluxesinmodelsandthose derivedfromobservations. Althoughgravitywavesoccuroverawiderangeofspatialandtemporalscales,the focusofthispaperisonscalesthatarebeingparameterizedinpresentclimatemodels,sub-1000-kmscales.Only observational methodsthatpermitderivationofgravitywavemomentumfluxesoverlargegeographical areas are discussed, and these are from satellite temperature measurements, constant-density long-duration bal- loons,andhigh-vertical-resolutionradiosondedata.Themodelsdiscussedincludetwohigh-resolutionmodels in which gravity waves are explicitly modeled, Kanto and the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5 (CAM5), and three climate models containing gravity wave parameterizations, MAECHAM5, Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model 3 (HadGEM3), and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) model. Measurements generally show similar flux magnitudes as in models, except that the fluxes derived from satellite measurements fall off more rapidly with height. This is likely due to limitations on the observable range of wavelengths, although other factors may contribute. When one accounts for this more rapid fall off, the geographical distribution of the fluxes from observations and models compare reasonably well, except for certain features that depend on the specification of the nonorographic gravity wave source functions in the climate models. For instance, both the observed fluxes and those in the high-resolution models are very small at summer high latitudes, but this is not the case for some of the climate models. This comparison between gravity wave fluxes from climate models, high-resolution models, and fluxes derived from observations in- dicates that such efforts offer a promising path toward improving specifications of gravity wave sources in climate models.

Mechanism for the Generation of Secondary Waves in Wave Breaking Regions

The authors propose that the body force that accompanies wave breaking is potentially an important linear mechanism for generating secondary waves that propagate into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. While the focus of this paper is on 3D forcings, it is shown that this generating mechanism can explain some of the mean wind and secondary wave features generated from wave breaking in a 2D nonlinear model study. Deep 3D body forces, which generate secondary waves very efficiently, create high-frequency waves with large vertical wavelengths that possess large momentum fluxes. The efficiency of this forcing is independent of latitude. However, the spatial and temporal variability/intermittency of a body force is important in determining the properties and associated momentum fluxes of the secondary waves. High spatial and temporal variability accompanying a wave breaking process leads to large secondary wave momentum fluxes. If a body force varies slowly with time, negligible secondary wave fluxes result. Spatial variability is important because distributing ‘‘averaged’’ body forces over larger regions horizontally (as is often necessary in GCM models) results in waves with smaller frequencies, larger horizontal wavelengths, and smaller associated momentum fluxes than would otherwise result. Because some of the secondary waves emitted from localized body force regions have large vertical wavelengths and large intrinsic phase speeds, the authors anticipate that secondary wave radiation from wave breaking in the mesosphere may play a significant role in the momentum budget well into the thermosphere.

Using Satellite Observations to Constrain Parameterizations of Gravity Wave Effects for Global Models

Abstract Small-scale gravity waves are common features in atmospheric temperature observations. In satellite observations, these waves have been traditionally difficult to resolve because the footprint or resolution of the measurements precluded their detection or clear identification. Recent advances in satellite instrument resolution coupled to innovative analysis techniques have led in the last decade to some new global datasets describing the temperature variance associated with these waves. Such satellite observations have been considered the best hope for quantifying the global properties of gravity waves needed to constrain parameterizations of their effects for global models. Although global maps of averaged gravity wave temperature variance have now been published from a variety of different instruments on Earth-orbiting platforms these maps have not provided the needed constraints. The present paper first summarizes what has been learned from traditional temporally and spatially averaged analyse...

Effects of tropospheric wind shear on the spectrum of convectively generated gravity waves

Abstract The authors examine the effects of tropospheric wind shear on the phase speed spectrum of gravity waves generated by tropical convection. A two-dimensional cloud-resolving model is used to perform numerous squall line simulations with the vertical shear of the horizontal wind varied in three layers of the troposphere. Several simplified simulations using prescribed heating are also performed to elucidate the interactions of wind shear with thermal forcing. It is found that the dominant phase speed range of convectively generated stratospheric gravity waves is primarily determined by the vertical scale of the tropospheric heating and is then modified by the tropospheric wind. The gravity wave spectrum is especially sensitive to shear in the upper troposphere. Through a mechanism similar to critical level filtering, such shear acts to reduce the momentum flux of waves propagating in the same direction as the storm-relative mean wind. Through interaction with convective turrets, shear in the upper t...

On the Intermittency of Gravity Wave Momentum Flux in the Stratosphere

AbstractIn this article, long-duration balloon and spaceborne observations, and mesoscale numerical simulations are used to study the intermittency of gravity waves in the lower stratosphere above Antarctica and the Southern Ocean; namely, the characteristics of the gravity wave momentum-flux probability density functions (pdfs) obtained with these three datasets are described. The pdfs consistently exhibit long tails associated with the occurrence of rare and large-amplitude events. The pdf tails are even longer above mountains than above oceanic areas, which is in agreement with previous studies of gravity wave intermittency in this region. It is moreover found that these rare, large-amplitude events represent the main contribution to the total momentum flux during the winter regime of the stratospheric circulation. In contrast, the wave intermittency significantly decreases when stratospheric easterlies develop in late spring and summer. It is also shown that, except above mountainous areas in winter, ...

A Method of Specifying the Gravity Wave Spectrum above Convection Based on Latent Heating Properties and Background Wind

Abstract The spectrum of convectively generated gravity waves is currently not resolved in general circulation models and must be parameterized. Due to the lack of understanding of the connection between convection properties and gravity waves, such parameterizations assume a source spectrum of gravity waves that is not linked to the forcing region. This paper introduces a method of specifying the gravity wave spectrum above convection based on the latent heating properties and background wind in the convective region that can be implemented in general circulation models. This method is based on linear calculations of momentum flux generated by a multifrequency thermal forcing and incorporates the effects of tropospheric mean wind in the convective environment. In the analysis, gravity waves that are generated by both the steady and the oscillatory component of the heating are included. It is shown that an accurate spectrum of convectively generated gravity waves can be deduced from the knowledge of appro...

Latitudinal Variations Observed in Gravity Waves with Short Vertical Wavelengths

Abstract Knowledge of the latitudinal variations in the occurrence of gravity waves is important for their parameterization in global models. Observations of gravity waves with short vertical scales have shown a pronounced peak in wave activity at tropical latitudes. In this paper, it is shown that such a peak may be a natural consequence of the latitudinal variation in the Coriolis parameter, which controls the lower limit for gravity-wave intrinsic frequencies ω. Two distinct but related effects of this parameter on observations of gravity-wave activity are explained and explored with a simple model. The results are also compared to observed latitudinal variations in gravity-wave activity. The authors formally distinguish between observed gravity-wave spectra and what is called gravity-wave “source spectra,” the latter being appropriate for input to gravity-wave parameterizations. The results suggest that the ω−5/3 dependence of the gravity-wave energy spectrum commonly assumed as input to parameteriz...

Momentum flux estimates for South Georgia Island mountain waves in the stratosphere observed via satellite

Abstract : We show high-resolution satellite observations of mountain wave events in the stratosphere above South Georgia Island in the remote southern Atlantic Ocean and compute the wave momentum fluxes for these events. The fluxes are large, and they imply important drag forces on the circulation. Small island orography is generally neglected in mountain wave parameterizations used in global climate models because limited model resolution treats the grid cell containing the island as ocean rather than land. Our results show that satellite observations can be used to quantitatively constrain mountain wave momentum fluxes, and they suggest that mountain waves from island topography may be an important missing source of drag on the atmospheric circulation.