High-Resolution Radiosonde Data, Gravity Waves, Turbulence, and the Extratropical Tropopause

Suny At Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides continued funding for the researcher's effort to acquire high-resolution radiosonde data for the United States for use in research on atmospheric turbulence, gravity waves, and the tropopause. While most publicly available US radiosonde data is provided at widely spaced standard pressure levels and a few "significant levels", the raw data has traditionally been archived every 6 seconds, implying a vertical resolution of about 30m. The US National Weather Service is now archiving raw data at one second intervals, so recent data is archived at roughly 5m vertical resolution. This project will use the high-resolution data to conduct research in two areas: studies of turbulent layering in the troposphere above the boundary layer and in the lower stratosphere, and the role of gravity wave breaking in establishing the turbulent layers; and studies of the physical processes that form and maintain the extratropical tropopause. The research has broader impacts for the scientific community by providing estimates for the parameters commonly used in parameterization schemes for gravity waves and turbulence in weather and climate models. In addition, the high-resolution data is made available to the scientifc community through the researcher's website, and the researcher will organize a workshop to help other researchers understand and use the data. The project also supports a graduate student and a postdoc, thereby providing for the next generation of scientists in the field.