An 18‐year climatology of directional stratospheric gravity wave momentum flux from 3‐D satellite observations

Hindley, N.P.; Wright, C.J.; Moffat-Griffin, Tracy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9670-6715; Mitchell, N.J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1149-8484. 2020 An 18‐year climatology of directional stratospheric gravity wave momentum flux from 3‐D satellite observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (22), e2020GL089557. 14, pp. 10.1029/2020GL089557

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Official URL: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10...

Abstract/Summary

Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) are key drivers of the atmospheric circulation, but their representation in general circulation models (GCMs) is challenging, leading to significant biases in middle atmospheric circulations. Unresolved GW momentum transport in GCMs must be parameterised, but global directional GW observations are needed to constrain this. Here we present an 18‐year climatology of directional stratospheric GW momentum flux (GWMF) from global AIRS/Aqua 3‐D satellite observations during 2002 to 2019. Striking hemispheric asymmetries are found at high latitudes, including dramatic reductions and reversals of GWMF during sudden stratospheric warmings. During southern hemisphere winter, a lateral convergence of GWMF towards 60°S is found that has no northern hemisphere counterpart. In the tropics, we find that zonal GWMF in AIRS measurements is strongly modulated by the semi‐annual oscillation (SAO) but not the quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO). Our results provide guidance for future GW parameterisations needed to resolve long‐standing biases in GCMs.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1029/2020GL089557
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	gravity waves, quasi-biennial oscillation, remote sensing, satellite observations, semiannual oscillation, stratospheric dynamics
Date made live:	16 Nov 2020 10:59 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528956

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1029/2020GL089557

ISSN:

0094-8276

Additional Keywords:

gravity waves, quasi-biennial oscillation, remote sensing, satellite observations, semiannual oscillation, stratospheric dynamics

Date made live:

16 Nov 2020 10:59 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528956