Wright Corwin J, Ungermann Jörn, Preusse Peter, Polichtchouk Inna
Centre for Space, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
NPJ Microgravity. 2023 Feb 8;9(1):14. doi: 10.1038/s41526-023-00259-2.
Convective gravity waves are a major driver of atmospheric circulation, including the stratospheric and mesospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and the Brewer-Dobson circulation. Previous work shows clear evidence that these waves can be excited by both single convective cells and by mesoscale convective complexes acting as a single unit. However, the partitioning of the generated waves and, crucially for atmospheric model development, the flux of momentum they transport between these two types of excitation process remains highly uncertain due to a fundamental lack of suitable observations at the global scale. Here, we use both theoretical calculations and sampled output from a high-resolution weather model to demonstrate that a satellite instrument using a sub-limb geometry would be well suited to characterising the short-vertical short-horizontal gravity waves these systems produce, and hence to provide the scientific knowledge needed to identify the relative wave-driving contribution of these two types of convective wave excitation.
对流重力波是大气环流的主要驱动力，包括平流层和中层准两年振荡（QBO）以及布勒尔-多布森环流。先前的研究清楚地表明，这些波既可以由单个对流单体激发，也可以由作为一个整体的中尺度对流复合体激发。然而，由于全球尺度上根本缺乏合适的观测数据，所产生的波的分配情况，以及对于大气模型发展至关重要的、它们在这两种激发过程之间传输的动量通量，仍然极不确定。在此，我们使用理论计算和高分辨率天气模型的采样输出，来证明采用亚临边几何构型的卫星仪器非常适合于表征这些系统产生的短垂直-短水平重力波，从而提供识别这两种对流波激发类型的相对波驱动贡献所需的科学知识。
