The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere
Spectral analysis is applied to infer the dynamics of mesoscale winds from aircraft observations in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Two datasets are analyzed: one collected aboard commercial aircraft and one collected using a dedicated research aircraft. A recently developed wave–vorte...
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| 格式: | 文件 |
| 语言: | en_US |
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American Meteorological Society
2017
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| 在线阅读: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109926 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2278-2811 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
| _version_ | 1826216363372314624 |
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| author | Bühler, Oliver Callies, Joern Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Bühler, Oliver Callies, Joern Ferrari, Raffaele |
| author_sort | Bühler, Oliver |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Spectral analysis is applied to infer the dynamics of mesoscale winds from aircraft observations in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Two datasets are analyzed: one collected aboard commercial aircraft and one collected using a dedicated research aircraft. A recently developed wave–vortex decomposition is used to test the observations’ consistency with linear inertia–gravity wave dynamics. The decomposition method is shown to be robust in the vicinity of the tropopause if flight tracks vary sufficiently in altitude. For the lower stratosphere, the decompositions of both datasets confirm a recent result that mesoscale winds are consistent with the polarization and dispersion relations of inertia–gravity waves. For the upper troposphere, however, the two datasets disagree: only the research aircraft data indicate consistency with linear wave dynamics at mesoscales. The source of the inconsistency is a difference in mesoscale variance of the measured along-track wind component. To further test the observed flow’s consistency with linear wave dynamics, the ratio between tropospheric and stratospheric mesoscale energy levels is compared to a simple model of upward-propagating waves that are partially reflected at the tropopause. For both datasets, the observed energy ratio is roughly consistent with the simple wave model, but wave frequencies diagnosed from the data draw into question the applicability of the monochromatic theory at wavelengths smaller than 10 km. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:46:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/109926 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:46:28Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Meteorological Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1099262022-09-29T21:25:31Z The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere Bühler, Oliver Callies, Joern Ferrari, Raffaele Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Callies, Joern Ferrari, Raffaele Spectral analysis is applied to infer the dynamics of mesoscale winds from aircraft observations in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Two datasets are analyzed: one collected aboard commercial aircraft and one collected using a dedicated research aircraft. A recently developed wave–vortex decomposition is used to test the observations’ consistency with linear inertia–gravity wave dynamics. The decomposition method is shown to be robust in the vicinity of the tropopause if flight tracks vary sufficiently in altitude. For the lower stratosphere, the decompositions of both datasets confirm a recent result that mesoscale winds are consistent with the polarization and dispersion relations of inertia–gravity waves. For the upper troposphere, however, the two datasets disagree: only the research aircraft data indicate consistency with linear wave dynamics at mesoscales. The source of the inconsistency is a difference in mesoscale variance of the measured along-track wind component. To further test the observed flow’s consistency with linear wave dynamics, the ratio between tropospheric and stratospheric mesoscale energy levels is compared to a simple model of upward-propagating waves that are partially reflected at the tropopause. For both datasets, the observed energy ratio is roughly consistent with the simple wave model, but wave frequencies diagnosed from the data draw into question the applicability of the monochromatic theory at wavelengths smaller than 10 km. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (OCE-123383) 2017-06-15T21:01:13Z 2017-06-15T21:01:13Z 2016-11 2016-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0022-4928 1520-0469 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109926 Callies, Jörn; Bühler, Oliver and Ferrari, Raffaele. “The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 73, no. 12 (December 2016): 4853–4872 © 2016 American Meteorological Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2278-2811 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0108.1 Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Meteorological Society American Meteorological Society |
| spellingShingle | Bühler, Oliver Callies, Joern Ferrari, Raffaele The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere |
| title | The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere |
| title_full | The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere |
| title_fullStr | The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere |
| title_short | The Dynamics of Mesoscale Winds in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere |
| title_sort | dynamics of mesoscale winds in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109926 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2278-2811 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3736-1956 |
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