Trapped Gravity Waves and Their Association with Turbulence in a Large Thunderstorm Anvil during PECAN

Abstract

Abstract Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-14 (GOES-14) 1-km visible satellite data with 1-min frequency revealed horizontally propagating internal gravity waves emanating from tropopause-penetrating deep convection on 3–4 June 2015 during the Plains Elevated Convection at Night (PECAN) field experiment. These waves had horizontal wavelengths of ~6–8 km and approximate ground-relative phase speeds of 35 m s−1. PECAN radiosonde data are used to document the environment supporting the horizontally propagating gravity waves within the 200-km-long downstream thunderstorm anvil. Comparisons among soundings within the anvil core, at the downstream anvil edge, and outside of the anvil, together with supporting high-resolution numerical simulations, establish the importance of the storm-induced upper-tropospheric/lower-stratospheric (UTLS) outflow in providing conditions allowing vertical trapping of internal gravity waves over large horizontal distances within the mesoscale anvil. Turbulence was reported by commercial aviation in proximity to the gravity waves near the downstream anvil edge. The simulations suggest that the strongest turbulence was consistent with a mesoscale destabilization of the outer portion of the downstream anvil at elevations immediately below the outflow jet, where differential temperature advection owing to the strong associated vertical shear reduces static stability. The simulated gravity waves are trapped at this elevation and extend for several kilometers below. Local minima of moist gradient Richardson number occur immediately above the simulated warm gravity wave temperature perturbations at anvil base, suggesting a possible role these waves could play in establishing precise locations for the onset of turbulence.