Collaborative Research: Characterizing Secondary Gravity Waves and Influences on Momentum Transport

Northwest Research Associates, Incorporated, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This project would carry out research primarily aimed at the study of the production and effects of secondary gravity waves (SGWs). The main objective is to understand how breaking gravity waves produce SGWs and then to assess the subsequent effect of SGWs on the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region. Studying the process of developing SGWs is necessary because these waves would potentially transport momentum to higher altitudes than the primary GW. The science plan of this project would also consider whether some of these SGWs could propagate even through a critical layer. These are important aspects of the coupling processes between different atmospheric layers. This question of energy transfer between atmospheric regions is a potentially transformative area of research and is an active topic in atmospheric research now that observations and models have recently become available. This project would help support two early career researchers with the lead Principal Investigator (PI) being a woman thus improving the gender diversity within the space physics community. While theory and modeling demonstrate the presence of secondary gravity waves, there are few observational, statistical, and combined modeling and observational studies on SGW generation and associated momentum flux and influences within the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region. The research aims to answer the following questions: 1) How do stratospheric and mesospheric conditions play a role in the evolution and propagation of gravity waves into the MLT and the progression of breaking conditions leading to SGW generation? 2) What are the implications of gravity wave breaking and resulting secondary gravity waves on momentum transport in the MLT? 3) What is the correlation between strong orographic gravity wave activity observed in the Northern hemisphere and observations of different gravity wave spectra in the MLT? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.