Influence of Gravity Waves in the Tropical Upwelling: WACCM Simulations

Abstract

Abstract The annual cycle of tropical upwelling and contributions by planetary and gravity waves are investigated from climatological simulations using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) including three gravity wave drag (GWD) parameterizations (orographic, nonstationary background, and convective GWD parameterizations). The tropical upwelling is estimated by the residual mean vertical velocity at 100 hPa averaged over 15°S–15°N. This is well matched with an upwelling estimate from the balance of the zonal momentum and the mass continuity. A clear annual cycle of the tropical upwelling is found, with a Northern Hemispheric (NH) wintertime maximum and NH summertime minimum determined primarily by the Eliassen–Palm flux divergence (EPD), along with a secondary contribution from the zonal wind tendency. Gravity waves increase tropical upwelling throughout the year, and of the three sources the contribution by convective gravity wave drag (CGWD) is largest in most months. The relative contribution by all three GWDs to tropical upwelling is not larger than 5%. However, when tropical upwelling is estimated by net upward mass flux between turnaround latitudes where upwelling changes downwelling, annual mean contribution by all three GWDs is up to 19% at 70 hPa by orographic and convective gravity waves with comparable magnitudes. Effects of CGWD on upwelling are investigated by conducting an additional WACCM simulation without CGWD parameterization. It was found that including CGWD parameterization increases tropical upwelling not only directly by adding CGWD forcing, but also indirectly by modulating EPD and zonal wind tendency terms in the tropics.