Modeling of acoustic and gravity wave interactions, coupling, and observables above meteorological systems

Abstract

Meteorology, especially strong tropospheric convection, is widely appreciated to generate broad spectra of acoustic and gravity waves (AWs and GWs or, together, AGWs). These include GWs with scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers and periods of ∼5 min to hours, that readily propagate upward, reach high altitudes (often to the lower-thermosphere), and grow to large amplitudes so that they may evolve nonlinearly prior to being overcome by dissipation. Strong convective dynamics, e.g., thunderstorms and tornadoes, are also known to radiate AWs at very low infrasonic frequencies (e.g., 0.1 Hz down to ∼4 mHz) that reach high altitudes and may be detectable in fluctuations of the atmosphere and ionosphere [e.g., Nishioka et al. (2013); Heale et al. (2019)]. The breaking of strong GW fields may also generate secondary AWs and, more generally, AGWs [Snively (2017); Heale et al. (2021)]. Together, convection and secondary AGW processes contribute to a broad spectrum of AWs with ∼mHz periods that are readily detectable at high altitudes and in pressure signals also measured at ground. Although AWs are excluded from traditional numerical weather prediction models, we report on models and simulation experiments designed to capture AW/AGW evolutions and their resulting observable signatures. In particular, we review and highlight scenarios by which ∼mHz AWs may reveal source processes of interest, as well as the opportunities to use atmospheric and ionospheric signals of AWs/AGWs as complement to ground-based infrasound recordings.