Horizontal Wavenumber Spectra of Vertical Vorticity and Horizontal Divergence in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere

Abstract

Abstract The author shows that the horizontal two-point correlations of vertical vorticity and the associated vorticity wavenumber spectrum can be constructed from previously measured velocity structure functions in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The spectrum has a minimum around k = 10−2 cycles per kilometer (cpkm) corresponding to wavelengths of 100 km. For smaller wavenumbers it displays a k−1 range and for higher wavenumbers, corresponding to mesoscale motions, it grows as k1/3. The two-point correlation of horizontal divergence of horizontal velocity and the associated horizontal spectrum is also constructed. The horizontal divergence spectrum is of the same order of magnitude as the vorticity spectrum in the mesoscale range and show similar inertial range scaling. It is argued that these results show that the mesoscale motions are not dominated by internal gravity waves. Instead, the author suggests that the dynamic origin of the k1/3 range is stratified turbulence. However, in contrast to Lilly, the author finds that stratified turbulence is not a phenomenon associated with an upscale energy cascade, but with a downscale energy cascade.