Gravity Wave Drag Research Articles

Planetary wave‐gravity wave interactions during mesospheric inversion layer events

AbstractRayleigh lidar temperature observations over Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E) show a few mesospheric inversion layer (MIL) events during 20–25 January 2007. The zonal mean removed SABER temperature shows warm anomalies around 50°E and 275°E indicating the presence of planetary wave of zonal wave number 2. The MIL amplitudes in SABER temperature averaged for 10°N–15°N and 70°E–90°E show a clear 2 day wave modulation during 20–28 January 2007. Prior to 20 January 2007, a strong 2day wave (zonal wave number 2) is observed in the height region of 80–90 km and it gets largely suppressed during 20–26 January 2007 as the condition for vertical propagation is not favorable, though it prevails at lower heights. The 10 day mean zonal wind over Tirunelveli (8.7°N, 77.8°E) shows deceleration of eastward winds indicating the westward drag due to wave dissipation. The nightly mean MF radar observed zonal winds show the presence of alternating eastward and westward winds during the period of 20–26 January 2007. The two dimensional spectrum of Rayleigh lidar temperature observations available for the nights of 20, 22, and 24 January 2007 shows the presence of gravity wave activity with periods 18 min, 38 min, 38 min, and vertical wavelengths 6.4 km, 4.0 km, 6.4 km respectively. From the dispersion relation of gravity waves, it is inferred that these waves are internal gravity waves rather than inertia gravity waves with the horizontal phase speeds of ~40 m/s, ~37 m/s, and ~50 m/s respectively. Assuming the gravity waves are eastward propagating waves, they get absorbed only in the eastward local wind fields of the planetary wave thereby causing turbulence and eddy diffusion which can be inferred from the estimation of large drag force due to the breaking of gravity wave leading to the formation of large amplitude inversion events in alternate nights. The present study shows that, the mesospheric temperature inversion is caused mainly due to the gravity wave breaking and the inversion amplitude may get modulated by the interaction between gravity waves and planetary waves. The eddy diffusion associated with gravity wave drag may also cause suppression in the planetary wave activity.

Dynamical Control of the Mesosphere by Orographic and Nonorographic Gravity Wave Drag during the Extended Northern Winters of 2006 and 2009

Abstract A version of the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) that is nudged toward reanalysis data up to 1 hPa is used to examine the impacts of parameterized orographic and nonorographic gravity wave drag (OGWD and NGWD) on the zonal-mean circulation of the mesosphere during the extended northern winters of 2006 and 2009 when there were two large stratospheric sudden warmings. The simulations are compared to Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations of mesospheric temperature and carbon monoxide (CO) and derived zonal winds. The control simulation, which uses both OGWD and NGWD, is shown to be in good agreement with MLS. The impacts of OGWD and NGWD are assessed using simulations in which those sources of wave drag are removed. In the absence of OGWD the mesospheric zonal winds in the months preceding the warmings are too strong, causing increased mesospheric NGWD, which drives excessive downwelling, resulting in overly large lower-mesospheric values of CO prior to the warming. NGWD is found to be most important following the warmings when the underlying westerlies are too weak to allow much vertical propagation of the orographic gravity waves to the mesosphere. NGWD is primarily responsible for driving the circulation that results in the descent of CO from the thermosphere following the warmings. Zonal-mean mesospheric winds and temperatures in all simulations are shown to be strongly constrained by (i.e., slaved to) the stratosphere. Finally, it is demonstrated that the responses to OGWD and NGWD are nonadditive because of their dependence and influence on the background winds and temperatures.

Role of gravity waves in the forcing of quasi two‐day waves in the mesosphere: An observational study

AbstractAmplitudes of quasi two‐day waves (QTDWs) are derived from temperature observations of the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder and Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) satellite instruments. In particular, a global climatology of QTDW amplitudes is derived from 10 years of SABER data, covering the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. This climatology is compared with geostrophic winds and climatologies of gravity wave (GW) momentum flux and GW drag absolute values derived from the same data set. We find that QTDWs are forced shortly after the maximum of the mesospheric summertime zonal wind jet in regions of jet instability where the meridional gradient of quasi‐geostrophic zonal mean potential vorticity is strongly negative. The jet instability regions are closely linked to enhanced GW drag that likely seeds those instabilities by decelerating the jet and causing the jet curvature responsible for the negative potential vorticity gradient. The vertical phase structure and the Eliassen‐Palm flux of the QTDWs are derived from SABER data and investigated. It is shown that QTDWs propagate upward starting from the jet instability regions. They exert eastward drag in the jet core, and strong westward drag at higher altitudes. Strikingly, the QTDWs are forced in regions where the global distribution of GWs exhibits a characteristic longitudinal structure caused by the GW source patterns in the summer hemisphere. This longitudinal structure might play an important role in the forcing of QTDWs; however, no clear link has been found to the observed QTDW zonal wavenumbers.

Stationary waves in the wintertime mesosphere: Evidence for gravity wave filtering by stratospheric planetary waves

Quasi‐stationary planetary‐scale waves in the wintertime mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) are thought to be forced in part by drag imparted by gravity waves that have been modulated by underlying stratospheric waves. Although this mechanism has been demonstrated numerically, there have been very few observational studies that examine wave driving as a source of planetary waves in the MLT. This study uses data from EOS Aura and TIMED between 2005 and 2011 to examine the momentum budget of MLT wintertime planetary waves. Monthly averages for January indicate that the dynamics of zonal wave number 1 are determined from a three‐way balance among the Coriolis acceleration, the pressure gradient force, and a momentum residual term that reflects wave drag. The MLT circulations in January 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011 are qualitatively consistent with a simple model of wave forcing by drag from gravity waves that have been modulated by stratospheric planetary waves. MLT winds during these years are also consistent with analyses from a high‐altitude operational prediction model that includes parameterized nonorographic gravity wave drag. The importance of wave drag for the MLT momentum budget suggests that the gradient wind approximation is inadequate for deriving planetary‐scale winds from global temperature measurements. Our results underscore the need for direct global wind measurements in the MLT.

Effects of physics packages on medium-range forecasts in a global forecasting system

The skill of medium-range forecasting can be determined by the quality of the initial conditions through data assimilation, model dynamics, and physics. In this study, the roles of physics packages in global forecasting systems are evaluated on a medium-range forecast testbed. Two physics packages are evaluated: The standard physics package in the model is a version of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global forecast system, which has been employed to produce the NCEP/Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis. The revised package consists of schemes accounting for radiation, the planetary-boundary layer, the land-surface model, gravity wave drag, and moist convection. Evaluations were performed in August 2010 and January 2011, focusing on the 500-hPa geopotential height and precipitation.The results show that the revised physics package improved the performance of the 500-hPa geopotential height throughout the 10-day forecast period. The improvement is larger in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere after the 5-day forecast, with a more distinct enhancement in the winter hemisphere. The skill of the precipitation forecasts shows overall improvement, although too much suppression of heavy precipitation needs to be rectified. The cumulus parameterization scheme is found to be a critical factor in improving the large-scale flow, but revisions in other processes, such as the mutual compensation effects among physics algorithms, need to be considered.

Analysis of large‐amplitude stratospheric mountain wave event observed from the AIRS and MLS sounders over the western Himalayan region

Mountain waves in the stratosphere have been observed over elevated topographies using both nadir‐looking and limb‐viewing satellites. However, the characteristics of mountain waves generated over the Himalayan Mountain range and the adjacent Tibetan Plateau are relatively less explored. The present study reports on three‐dimensional (3‐D) properties of a mountain wave event that occurred over the western Himalayan region on 9 December 2008. Observations made by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on board the Aqua and Microwave Limb Sounder on board the Aura satellites are used to delineate the wave properties. The observed wave properties such as horizontal (λx, λy) and vertical (λz) wavelengths are 276 km (zonal), 289 km (meridional), and 25 km, respectively. A good agreement is found between the observed and modeled/analyzed vertical wavelength for a stationary gravity wave determined using the Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis winds. The analysis of both the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis and MERRA winds shows that the waves are primarily forced by strong flow across the topography. Using the 3‐D properties of waves and the corrected temperature amplitudes, we estimated wave momentum fluxes of the order of ∼0.05 Pa, which is in agreement with large‐amplitude mountain wave events reported elsewhere. In this regard, the present study is considered to be very much informative to the gravity wave drag schemes employed in current general circulation models for this region.

Comparison of gravity wave temperature variances from ray‐based spectral parameterization of convective gravity wave drag with AIRS observations

The realism of ray‐based spectral parameterization of convective gravity wave drag, which considers the updated moving speed of the convective source and multiple wave propagation directions, is tested against the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard the Aqua satellite. Offline parameterization calculations are performed using the global reanalysis data for January and July 2005, and gravity wave temperature variances (GWTVs) are calculated at z = 2.5 hPa (unfiltered GWTV). AIRS‐filtered GWTV, which is directly compared with AIRS, is calculated by applying the AIRS visibility function to the unfiltered GWTV. A comparison between the parameterization calculations and AIRS observations shows that the spatial distribution of the AIRS‐filtered GWTV agrees well with that of the AIRS GWTV. However, the magnitude of the AIRS‐filtered GWTV is smaller than that of the AIRS GWTV. When an additional cloud top gravity wave momentum flux spectrum with longer horizontal wavelength components that were obtained from the mesoscale simulations is included in the parameterization, both the magnitude and spatial distribution of the AIRS‐filtered GWTVs from the parameterization are in good agreement with those of the AIRS GWTVs. The AIRS GWTV can be reproduced reasonably well by the parameterization not only with multiple wave propagation directions but also with two wave propagation directions of 45° (northeast‐southwest) and 135° (northwest‐southeast), which are optimally chosen for computational efficiency.

Is Missing Orographic Gravity Wave Drag near 60°S the Cause of the Stratospheric Zonal Wind Biases in Chemistry–Climate Models?

Abstract Nearly all chemistry–climate models (CCMs) have a systematic bias of a delayed springtime breakdown of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) stratospheric polar vortex, implying insufficient stratospheric wave drag. In this study the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) and the CMAM Data Assimilation System (CMAM-DAS) are used to investigate the cause of this bias. Zonal wind analysis increments from CMAM-DAS reveal systematic negative values in the stratosphere near 60°S in winter and early spring. These are interpreted as indicating a bias in the model physics, namely, missing gravity wave drag (GWD). The negative analysis increments remain at a nearly constant height during winter and descend as the vortex weakens, much like orographic GWD. This region is also where current orographic GWD parameterizations have a gap in wave drag, which is suggested to be unrealistic because of missing effects in those parameterizations. These findings motivate a pair of free-running CMAM simulations to assess the impact of extra orographic GWD at 60°S. The control simulation exhibits the cold-pole bias and delayed vortex breakdown seen in the CCMs. In the simulation with extra GWD, the cold-pole bias is significantly reduced and the vortex breaks down earlier. Changes in resolved wave drag in the stratosphere also occur in response to the extra GWD, which reduce stratospheric SH polar-cap temperature biases in late spring and early summer. Reducing the dynamical biases, however, results in degraded Antarctic column ozone. This suggests that CCMs that obtain realistic column ozone in the presence of an overly strong and persistent vortex may be doing so through compensating errors.

Gravity wave variances and propagation derived from AIRS radiances

Abstract. As the first gravity wave (GW) climatology study using nadir-viewing infrared sounders, 50 Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiance channels are selected to estimate GW variances at pressure levels between 2–100 hPa. The GW variance for each scan in the cross-track direction is derived from radiance perturbations in the scan, independently of adjacent scans along the orbit. Since the scanning swaths are perpendicular to the satellite orbits, which are inclined meridionally at most latitudes, the zonal component of GW propagation can be inferred by differencing the variances derived between the westmost and the eastmost viewing angles. Consistent with previous GW studies using various satellite instruments, monthly mean AIRS variance shows large enhancements over meridionally oriented mountain ranges as well as some islands at winter hemisphere high latitudes. Enhanced wave activities are also found above tropical deep convective regions. GWs prefer to propagate westward above mountain ranges, and eastward above deep convection. AIRS 90 field-of-views (FOVs), ranging from +48° to −48° off nadir, can detect large-amplitude GWs with a phase velocity propagating preferentially at steep angles (e.g., those from orographic and convective sources). The annual cycle dominates the GW variances and the preferred propagation directions for all latitudes. Indication of a weak two-year variation in the tropics is found, which is presumably related to the Quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). AIRS geometry makes its out-tracks capable of detecting GWs with vertical wavelengths substantially shorter than the thickness of instrument weighting functions. The novel discovery of AIRS capability of observing shallow inertia GWs will expand the potential of satellite GW remote sensing and provide further constraints on the GW drag parameterization schemes in the general circulation models (GCMs).

Stratified flow over complex topography: A model study of the bottom drag and associated mixing

The flow of stratified fluid over complex topography may lead to a significant drag on the fluid, exerted by the bottom obstacles. Using a 2-m resolution, three-dimensional, non-hydrostatic numerical ocean model, the drag and associated mixing on a stratified flow over real, 1-m resolution topography (interpolated to model resolution) is studied. With a typical mountain height of 12 m in 174 m water and buoyancy frequencies ranging from 0.6 × 10 − 2 s − 1 to 1.2 × 10 − 2 s − 1 , resolving the topographic features leads to extensive drag exerted on the flow manifested through three different processes: (i) gravity wave drag, (ii) aerodynamic or blocked flow drag, and (iii) hydraulic drag. A parameterization of the internal wave drag based on linear, two-dimensional, hydrostatic wave solutions provides satisfactory results in terms of the turbulent kinetic energy levels. The depth of the layer where the vertical momentum flux is deposited, however, is underestimated, leading to an overestimated gravity wave drag in the layer.

Dynamical effects of internal gravity waves in the equinoctial thermosphere

Using a recently developed spectral nonlinear gravity wave (GW) parameterization implemented into a 3-D coupled general circulation model, the effects of a broad spectrum of small-scale internal GWs of lower atmospheric origin on the equinoctial thermosphere are studied for the first time. GWs propagate to F region altitudes in both hemispheres, producing appreciable drag on the mean zonal wind. Some modifications of the two-cell equinoctial mean circulation by GWs are simulated, too. The mean zonal GW drag is comparable to the ion drag up to ∼260km in the middle- and high-latitudes. While the mean dynamical effect of GWs is the deceleration of the mean flow, the instantaneous GW body force can have both signs. In the Southern Hemisphere high-latitude, GWs are found to produce large torque of more than 1000ms−1 day−1 the mechanism of which is investigated in detail. GW anisotropy plays a crucial role in offsetting and modulating wave filtering, introducing increased favourable conditions for westerly harmonics in the high-latitudes. This leads to a very large localized eastward GW drag reaching a maximum in the upper thermosphere as a consequence of enhanced molecular viscosity, thermal conduction, and ion drag. Finally, the high-latitude distribution of the GW body force is presented in the upper thermosphere along with the comparison with ion drag. It demonstrates significant interhemispheric differences and large longitudinal variations in GW momentum deposition.

The Brewer–Dobson circulation inferred from ERA‐Interim

AbstractThe transformed Eulerian mean residual circulation is calculated from ERA‐Interim for 1989–2009. Known as the Brewer–Dobson circulation, this measures the tropical upwelling of mass from troposphere to stratosphere, the mean meridional mass transport in the stratosphere and the downwelling of mass in the Extratropics. Major features of the Brewer–Dobson circulation, including the seasonal migration of the tropical upwelling toward the summer pole, are well represented. In the tropical lower stratosphere vertical velocities are less noisy than in other reanalyses, though significant tidal variations demonstrate the need for 6‐hourly data. Throughout the year tropical lower stratospheric ascent rates are a minimum at the Equator and strongest in the Northern Hemisphere. In each hemisphere the maximum tropical ascent occurs during summer, whereas the strongest circulation and maximum in extratropical descent occur in the winter hemisphere. At 70 hPa the annual mean upwelling mass flux is 5.9 × 109 kg s−1, with the zonal drag from resolved waves and parametrized orographic gravity wave drag (OGWD) providing 70% and 4% of the driving, respectively. Hence it is concluded that the OGWD probably underestimates the momentum deposited above 70 hPa in addition to there being an absence of drag from non‐orographic gravity waves. A statistically significant trend of −5% per decade in the upwelling mass flux is considered unreliable because it is inconsistent with the negative temperature trend, assuming a mainly adiabatic temperature response at this level (70 hPa) to the changes in upwelling. Copyright © 2011 British Crown copyright, the Met Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Influence of Gravity Waves in the Tropical Upwelling: WACCM Simulations

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.

Influence of the Antarctic ozone hole on the polar mesopause region as simulated by the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model

It is well established that variations in polar stratospheric winds can affect mesospheric temperatures through changes in the filtering of gravity wave fluxes, which drive a residual circulation in the mesosphere. The Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) is used to examine this vertical coupling mechanism in the context of the mesospheric response to the Antarctic ozone hole. It is found that the response differs significantly between late spring and early summer, because of a changing balance between the competing effects of parametrised gravity wave drag (GWD) and changes in resolved wave drag local to the mesosphere. In late spring, the strengthened stratospheric westerlies arising from the ozone hole lead to reduced eastward GWD in the mesosphere and a warming of the polar mesosphere, just as in the well known mesospheric response to sudden stratospheric warmings, but with an opposite sign. In early summer, with easterly flow prevailing over most of the polar stratosphere, the strengthened easterly wind shear within the mesosphere arising from the westward GWD anomaly induces a positive resolved wave drag anomaly through baroclinic instability. The polar cooling induced by this process completely dominates the upper mesospheric response to the ozone hole in early summer. Consequences for the past and future evolution of noctilucent clouds are discussed.

The impact of gravity wave drag on mesospheric analyses of the 2006 stratospheric major warming

[1] The 2006 Arctic stratospheric sudden warming was an unusual event in which the stratopause disappeared after the peak of the warming, only to reform at very high altitudes above 75 km. The stratopause then descended during February and March 2006, returning to climatological values. This event, which coupled the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere, has been used to assess the quality of the upper stratospheric and mesospheric analyses produced with the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model's data assimilation system. By comparing with simulations in which Sounding of the Atmosphere Using Broadband Emission Radiometry temperatures were assimilated, mesospheric analyses obtained without assimilating any observations above 45 km were shown to capture the timing and amplitude of the elevated stratopause event. Mesospheric analyses of temperature and winds were sensitive to the use of a nonorographic gravity wave drag scheme, but this sensitivity was reduced when mesospheric temperatures were assimilated. Moreover, a realistic nonorographic gravity wave drag can somewhat compensate for the lack of mesospheric measurements. On the other hand, the descent of mesospheric NOx after the peak of the stratospheric warming was found to be sensitive to the presence of nonorographic gravity wave drag even when mesospheric temperatures were assimilated, suggesting that eddy forcing is not fully constrained by mesospheric observations in our data assimilation system.

Estimation of optimal gravity wave parameters for climate models using data assimilation

AbstractThere is a current need to constrain the parameters of gravity wave drag (GWD) schemes in climate models using observational information instead of tuning them subjectively. In this work, an inverse technique is developed using data assimilation principles to estimate gravity wave parameters. Because most GWD schemes assume instantaneous vertical propagation of gravity waves within a column, observations in a single column can be used to formulate a one‐dimensional assimilation problem to estimate the unknown parameters. We define a cost function that measures the differences between the unresolved drag inferred from observations (referred to here as the ‘observed’ GWD) and the GWD calculated with a parametrisation scheme. The geometry of the cost function presents some difficulties, including multiple minima and ill‐conditioning because of the non‐independence of the gravity wave parameters. To overcome these difficulties we propose a genetic algorithm to minimize the cost function, which provides a robust parameter estimation over a broad range of prescribed ‘true’ parameters. When real experiments using an independent estimate of the ‘observed’ GWD are performed, physically unrealistic values of the parameters can result due to the non‐independence of the parameters. However, by constraining one of the parameters to lie within a physically realistic range, this degeneracy is broken and the other parameters are also found to lie within physically realistic ranges. This argues for the essential physical self‐consistency of the gravity wave scheme. A much better fit to the observed GWD at high latitudes is obtained when the parameters are allowed to vary with latitude. However, a close fit can be obtained either in the upper or the lower part of the profiles, but not in both at the same time. This result is a consequence of assuming an isotropic launch spectrum. The changes of sign in the GWD found in the tropical lower stratosphere, which are associated with part of the quasi‐biennial oscillation forcing, cannot be captured by the parametrisation with optimal parameters. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society and Crown in the right of Canada.

Explicitly Stochastic Parameterization of Nonorographic Gravity Wave Drag

Abstract A straightforward methodology is presented for converting the deterministic multiwave parameterizations of nonorographic gravity wave drag, currently used in general circulation models (GCMs), to stochastic analogs that use fewer waves (in the example herein, a single wave) within each grid box. Deterministic discretizations of source-level momentum flux spectra using a fixed spectrum of many waves with predefined phase speeds are replaced by sampling these source spectra stochastically using waves with randomly assigned phase speeds. Using simple conversion formulas, it is shown that time-mean wave-induced drag, diffusion, and heating-rate profiles identical to those from the deterministic scheme are produced by the stochastic analog. Furthermore, in these examples the need for bulk intermittency factors of small value is largely obviated through the explicit incorporation of stochastic intermittency into the scheme. When implemented in a GCM, the single-wave stochastic analog of an existing deterministic scheme reproduces almost identical time-mean middle-atmosphere climate and drag as its deterministic antecedent but with an order of magnitude reduction in computational expense. The stochastically parameterized drag is also accompanied by inherent variability about the time-mean profile that forces the smallest space–time scales of the GCM. Studies of mean GCM kinetic energy spectra show that this additional stochastic forcing does not lead to excessive increases in dynamical variability at these smallest GCM scales. The results show that the expensive deterministic schemes currently used in GCMs are easily modified and replaced by cheap stochastic analogs without any obvious deleterious impacts on GCM climate or variability, while offering potential advantages of computational savings, reduction of systematic climate biases, and greater and more realistic ensemble spread.

Gravity wave momentum flux generation close to mid-latitude Andes in mesoscale simulations of late 20th and 21st centuries

Adequate representations of diverse dynamical processes in general circulation models (GCM) are necessary to obtain reliable simulations of the present and the future. The parameterization of orographic gravity wave drag (GWD) is one of the critical components of GCM. It is therefore convenient to evaluate whether standard orographic GWD parameterizations are appropriate. One alternative is to study the generation of gravity waves (GW) with horizontal resolutions that are higher than those used in current GCM simulations. Here we assess the seasonal pattern of topographic GW momentum flux (GWMF) generation for the late 20th and 21st centuries in a downscaling using the Rossby Centre regional atmospheric model under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A1B emission conditions. We focus on one of the world’s strongest extra-tropical GW zones, the Andes Mountains at mid-latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. The presence of two GCM sub-grid scale structures locally contributing to GWMF (one positive and one negative) is found to the East of the mountains. For the late 21st century the strength of these structures during the GW high season increases around 23% with respect to the late 20th century, but the GWMF average over GCM grid cell scales remains negative and nearly constant around −0.015 Pa. This constitutes a steady significant contribution during GW high season, which is not related to the GWMF released by individual sporadic strong GW events. This characteristic agrees with the fact that no statistically significant variation in GWMF at source level has been observed in recent GCM simulations of atmospheric change induced by increases in greenhouse gases.

Middle Atmosphere Response to ENSO Events in Northern Hemisphere Winter by the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model

The influences of El Niño and La Niña sea surface temperature anomalies on the middle atmosphere are analyzed using a chemistry-climate model, the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, version 3 (WACCM3), and the 40-year reanalysis dataset from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ERA-40). Monthly mean data are used to perform statistical and dynamical analyses. Temperature anomalies are found in the stratosphere during both El Niño and La Niña years. These anomalies exhibit diverse distribution patterns, which we ascribe to the different scales of the planetary waves. During an El Niño winter, planetary waves are most active in December and January, leading to more disturbances of the stratospheric polar vortex and a higher frequency of stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) events. Moreover, on the basis of the three-dimensional Eliassen-Palm (E-P) flux, we find that the main wave action is located in the eastern hemisphere and displaces the polar vortex to the western hemisphere. These vortex displacements are closely connected to the weather and climate in the corresponding areas. In contrast, during a La Niña winter, planetary waves are most active in February and March, and most SSW events occur at the same time. The distribution of the E-P flux indicates that planetary wave fluctuations are located between 90°E and 180°E, resulting in a displacement of the polar vortex with some associated changes in the related atmospheric circulation. In addition, the mesospheric residual circulation (RC) reverses between February and March in both El Niño and La Niña years. Dynamical analyses using parameterized gravity waves show that the mesospheric meridional RC is closely connected to gravity-wave drag. This, in turn, is directly influenced by temperature and zonal wind patterns in the early and late winter of El Niño and La Niña years. These anomalies in the RC may influence the distribution of atmospheric constituents and should be explored further.

A study on the formation and trend of the Brewer-Dobson circulation

[1] The Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) is approximately expressed by the residual circulation (RC) and considered to be driven by the body force induced by the breaking and/or dissipation of atmospheric waves. The contribution of different types of waves to the RC in the Center for Climate System Research/National Institute for Environmental Studies (CCSR/NIES) Chemistry Climate Model (CCM) is diagnosed using the “downward control principle (DC).” Gravity wave drag (GWD) including orographic gravity wave drag (OGWD) has a great influence on the RC in the low and middle latitudes of the lower stratosphere. In particular, the summer hemispheric low-latitude part of winter circulation is mainly formed by the GWD. These results are consistent with the estimates of the GWD contribution using reanalysis data by subtracting the resolved wave contribution from the RC with DC principle. In addition, it is seen that the net upward mass flux on the 70 hPa surface is strengthened during the 21st century because of the upward shift of the OGWD, which is consistent with previous studies. These conclusions indicate that gravity waves play an important role in maintaining the BDC.