Derivation of Gravity Wave Characteristics from United States Radiosonde Data

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

Key to understanding the circulation of the middle atmosphere (stratosphere and mesosphere) is the ability to characterize the role of gravity waves in the transport and deposition of momentum. Given the scales at which the middle atmosphere is modeled, the processes involving gravity waves occur at sub-grid scales; thus, the effects of gravity waves must be parameterized in the models. These parameterizations require some knowledge of the gravity wave spectrum at the tropopause as input, but at this time, little is known about that spectrum because of lack of appropriate data. In 1998, high-resolution radiosonde measurements of wind and temperature became available for the first time. Dr. Geller and his colleagues will analyze the U.S. high-resolution radiosonde wind and temperature data for the years 1998-2001. Their analyses will provide the kind of information on gravity wave spectra that is needed to develop realistic parameterizations for middle atmosphere models. Similar analyses of radiosonde data have been done in Australia for that region and have provided very useful information on the morphology of gravity waves. The analyzed data sets will be made available to the international community through the Stratospheric Processes and Their Role in Climate (SPARC) Data Center web site which current resides at SUNY-Stony Brook. In addition to developing this data set, Dr. Geller also will perform a number of additional analyses in an attempt to identify the tropospheric sources of gravity waves. They will also examine, to the extent possible, the interannual variability of the gravity wave spectrum over the U.S.