skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

Title: Observed and Modeled Mountain Waves from the Surface to the Mesosphere near the Drake Passage
Abstract

Four state-of-the-science numerical weather prediction (NWP) models were used to perform mountain wave (MW)-resolving hindcasts over the Drake Passage of a 10-day period in 2010 with numerous observed MW cases. The Integrated Forecast System (IFS) and the Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) model were run at Δx≈ 9 and 13 km globally. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and the Met Office Unified Model (UM) were both configured with a Δx= 3-km regional domain. All domains had tops near 1 Pa (z≈ 80 km). These deep domains allowedquantitativevalidation against Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) observations, accounting for observation time, viewing geometry, and radiative transfer. All models reproduced observed middle-atmosphere MWs with remarkable skill. Increased horizontal resolution improved validations. Still, all models underrepresented observed MW amplitudes, even after accounting for model effective resolution and instrument noise, suggesting even at Δx≈ 3-km resolution, small-scale MWs are underresolved and/or overdiffused. MW drag parameterizations are still necessary in NWP models at current operational resolutions of Δx≈ 10 km. Upper GW sponge layers in the operationally configured models significantly, artificially reduced MW amplitudes in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere. In the IFS, parameterized GW drags partly compensated this deficiency, but still, total drags were ≈6 times smaller than that resolved at Δx≈ 3 km. Meridionally propagating MWs significantly enhance zonal drag over the Drake Passage. Interestingly, drag associated with meridional fluxes of zonal momentum (i.e.,) were important; not accounting for these terms results in a drag in the wrong direction at and below the polar night jet.

Significance Statement

This study had three purposes: to quantitatively evaluate how well four state-of-the-science weather models could reproduce observed mountain waves (MWs) in the middle atmosphere, to compare the simulated MWs within the models, and to quantitatively evaluate two MW parameterizations in a widely used climate model. These models reproduced observed MWs with remarkable skill. Still, MW parameterizations are necessary in current Δx≈ 10-km resolution global weather models. Even Δx≈ 3-km resolution does not appear to be high enough to represent all momentum-fluxing MW scales. Meridionally propagating MWs can significantly influence zonal winds over the Drake Passage. Parameterizations that handle horizontal propagation may need to consider horizontal fluxes of horizontal momentum in order to get the direction of their forcing correct.

  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2004512
NSF-PAR ID:
10367816
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
American Meteorological Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Volume:
79
Issue:
4
ISSN:
0022-4928
Page Range / eLocation ID:
p. 909-932
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ( , Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences)
    null (Ed.)
    Abstract This paper addresses the compressible nonlinear dynamics accompanying increasing mountain wave (MW) forcing over the southern Andes and propagation into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) under winter conditions. A stretched grid provides very high resolution of the MW dynamics in a large computational domain. A slow increase of cross-mountain winds enables MWs to initially break in the mesosphere and extend to lower and higher altitudes thereafter. MW structure and breaking is strongly modulated by static mean and semidiurnal tide fields exhibiting a critical level at ~114 km for zonal MW propagation. Varying vertical group velocities for different zonal wavelengths λ x yield initial breaking in the lee of the major Andes peaks for λ x ~ 50 km, and extending significantly upstream for larger λ x approaching the critical level at later times. The localized extent of the Andes terrain in latitude leads to “ship wave” responses above the individual peaks at earlier times, and a much larger ship-wave response at 100 km and above as the larger-scale MWs achieve large amplitudes. Other responses above regions of MW breaking include large-scale secondary gravity waves and acoustic waves that achieve very large amplitudes extending well into the thermosphere. MW breaking also causes momentum deposition that yields local decelerations initially, which merge and extend horizontally thereafter and persist throughout the event. Companion papers examine the associated momentum fluxes, mean-flow evolution, gravity wave–tidal interactions, and the MW instability dynamics and sources of secondary gravity waves and acoustic waves. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ( , Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems)
    Abstract

    Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) span a broad range of length scales. As a result, the un‐resolved and under‐resolved GWs have to be represented using a sub‐grid scale (SGS) parameterization in general circulation models (GCMs). In recent years, machine learning (ML) techniques have emerged as novel methods for SGS modeling of climate processes. In the widely used approach of supervised (offline) learning, the true representation of the SGS terms have to be properly extracted from high‐fidelity data (e.g., GW‐resolving simulations). However, this is a non‐trivial task, and the quality of the ML‐based parameterization significantly hinges on the quality of these SGS terms. Here, we compare three methods to extract 3D GW fluxes and the resulting drag (Gravity Wave Drag [GWD]) from high‐resolution simulations: Helmholtz decomposition, and spatial filtering to compute the Reynolds stress and the full SGS stress. In addition to previous studies that focused only on vertical fluxes by GWs, we also quantify the SGS GWD due to lateral momentum fluxes. We build and utilize a library of tropical high‐resolution (Δx = 3 km) simulations using weather research and forecasting model. Results show that the SGS lateral momentum fluxes could have a significant contribution to the total GWD. Moreover, when estimating GWD due to lateral effects, interactions between the SGS and the resolved large‐scale flow need to be considered. The sensitivity of the results to different filter type and length scale (dependent on GCM resolution) is also explored to inform the scale‐awareness in the development of data‐driven parameterizations.

     
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ( , Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences)
    Abstract Based on 20-day control forecasts by the 9-km Integrated Forecasting System (IFS) at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for selected periods of summer and winter events, this study investigates global distributions of gravity wave momentum fluxes resolved by the highest-resolution-ever global operational numerical weather prediction model. Two supplementary datasets, including 18-km ECMWF IFS experiments and the 30-km ERA5, are included for comparison. In the stratosphere, there is a clear dominance of westward momentum fluxes over the winter extratropics with strong baroclinic instability, while eastward momentum fluxes are found in the summer tropics. However, meridional momentum fluxes, locally as important as the above zonal counterpart, show different behaviors of global distribution characteristics, with northward and southward momentum fluxes alternating with each other especially at lower altitudes. Both events illustrate conclusive evidence that stronger stratospheric fluxes are found in the ECMWF forecast with finer resolution, and that ERA5 datasets have the weakest signals in general, regardless of whether regridding is applied. In the troposphere, probability distributions of vertical motion perturbations are highly asymmetric with more strong positive signals especially over latitudes covering heavy rainfall, likely caused by convective forcing. With the aid of precipitation accumulation, a simple filtering method is proposed in an attempt to eliminate those tropospheric asymmetries by convective forcing, before calculating tropospheric wave-induced fluxes. Furthermore, this research demonstrates promising findings that the proposed filtering method could help in reducing the potential uncertainties with respect to estimating tropospheric wave-induced fluxes. Finally, absolute momentum flux distributions with proposed approaches are presented, for further assessment in the future. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ( , Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences)
    Abstract

    The momentum transport by orographic gravity waves (OGWs) plays an important role in driving the large-scale circulation throughout the atmosphere and is subject to parameterization in numerical models. Current parameterization schemes, which were originally developed for coarse-resolution models, commonly assume that unresolved OGWs are hydrostatic. With the increase in the horizontal resolution ofstate-of-the-artnumerical models, unresolved OGWs are of smaller horizontal scale and more influenced by nonhydrostatic effects (NHE), thus challenging use of the hydrostatic assumption. Based on the analytical formulas for nonhydrostatic OGWs derived in our recent study, the orographic gravity wave drag (OGWD) parameterization scheme in the Model for Prediction Across Scales is revised by accounting for NHE. Global simulations with 30-km horizontal resolution are conducted to investigate NHE on the momentum transport of OGWs and their impacts on the large-scale circulation in boreal winter. NHE are evident in regions of complex terrain such as the Tibetan Plateau, Rocky Mountains, southern Andes, and eastern Antarctica. The parameterized surface wave momentum flux can be either reduced or enhanced depending on the relative importance of NHE and model physics–dynamics interactions. The NHE corrections to the OGWD scheme significantly reduce the easterly biases in the polar stratosphere of the Northern Hemisphere, due to both weakened OGWD in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and suppressed upward propagation of resolved waves into the stratosphere. However, the revised OGWD scheme only has a weak influence on the large-scale circulation in the Southern Hemisphere during boreal winter.

     
    more » « less
  5. ; ( , Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics)
    Abstract

    We present a new version of the high‐resolution Kühlungsborn Mechanistic general Circulation Model (KMCM) extended toz ∼ 450 km. This model is called HIAMCM (HI Altitude Mechanistic general Circulation Model) and explicitly simulates gravity waves (GWs) down to horizontal wavelengths ofλh ∼ 165 km. We find predominant tertiary GWs in the winter thermosphere at middle/high latitudes. These GWs typically have horizontal wavelengthsλh ∼ 300–1,100 km, ground‐based periods∼25–90 min, and intrinsic horizontal phase speedscIh ∼ 250–350 m s−1. Abovez∼ 200 km, the predominant GW horizontal propagation directions are roughly against the background winds from the diurnal tide; the GWs propagate mainly poleward at midnight, eastward at 6 local time (LT), equatorward at noon, and westward at 18 LT. Wintertime GWs atz∼ 300 km having 165 km ≤λh≤ 330 km create a large hot spot over the Southern Andes/Antarctic Peninsula that agrees well with quiet time satellite measurements. Due to cancelation effects, the time‐averaged zonal mean Eliassen‐Palm flux divergence from the resolved GWs in the thermosphere is negligible compared to that of the tides and compared to the zonal component of the time‐averaged zonal mean ion drag. We also find that the thermospheric GWs dissipate mainly from macroturbulent diffusion and, abovez∼ 200 km, from molecular diffusion, whereas the tides dissipate mainly from ion drag. The averaged dissipative heating in the thermosphere due to tides is much stronger than that due to GWs.

     
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email