Observation and analysis of a large amplitude mountain wave event over the Antarctic peninsula

2007 ◽  
Vol 112 (D21) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Joan Alexander ◽  
Hector Teitelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Large Amplitude ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Wave Event ◽  
The Antarctic

scholarly journals Can gravity waves significantly impact PSC occurrence in the Antarctic?

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (22) ◽  
pp. 8825-8840 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. McDonald ◽  
S. E. George ◽  
R. M. Woollands
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Temperature Threshold ◽  
Aerosol Extinction ◽  
Polar Stratospheric Clouds ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Stratospheric Clouds ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. A combination of POAM III aerosol extinction and CHAMP RO temperature measurements are used to examine the role of atmospheric gravity waves in the formation of Antarctic Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs). POAM III aerosol extinction observations and quality flag information are used to identify Polar Stratospheric Clouds using an unsupervised clustering algorithm. A PSC proxy, derived by thresholding Met Office temperature analyses with the PSC Type Ia formation temperature (TNAT), shows general agreement with the results of the POAM III analysis. However, in June the POAM III observations of PSC are more abundant than expected from temperature threshold crossings in five out of the eight years examined. In addition, September and October PSC identified using temperature thresholding is often significantly higher than that derived from POAM III; this observation probably being due to dehydration and denitrification. Comparison of the Met Office temperature analyses with corresponding CHAMP observations also suggests a small warm bias in the Met Office data in June. However, this bias cannot fully explain the differences observed. Analysis of CHAMP data indicates that temperature perturbations associated with gravity waves may partially explain the enhanced PSC incidence observed in June (relative to the Met Office analyses). For this month, approximately 40% of the temperature threshold crossings observed using CHAMP RO data are associated with small-scale perturbations. Examination of the distribution of temperatures relative to TNAT shows a large proportion of June data to be close to this threshold, potentially enhancing the importance of gravity wave induced temperature perturbations. Inspection of the longitudinal structure of PSC occurrence in June 2005 also shows that regions of enhancement are geographically associated with the Antarctic Peninsula; a known mountain wave "hotspot". The latitudinal variation of POAM III observations means that we only observe this region in June–July, and thus the true pattern of enhanced PSC production may continue operating into later months. The analysis has shown that early in the Antarctic winter stratospheric background temperatures are close to the TNAT threshold (and PSC formation), and are thus sensitive to temperature perturbations associated with mountain wave activity near the Antarctic peninsula (40% of PSC formation). Later in the season, and at latitudes away from the peninsula, temperature perturbations associated with gravity waves contribute to about 15% of the observed PSC (a value which corresponds well to several previous studies). This lower value is likely to be due to colder background temperatures already achieving the TNAT threshold unaided. Additionally, there is a reduction in the magnitude of gravity waves perturbations observed as POAM III samples poleward of the peninsula.

scholarly journals Stratospheric gravity waves at Southern Hemisphere orographic hotspots: 2003–2014 AIRS/Aqua observations

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (14) ◽  
pp. 9381-9397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Alison W. Grimsdell ◽  
M. Joan Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Kerguelen Islands ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Stratospheric gravity waves from small-scale orographic sources are currently not well-represented in general circulation models. This may be a reason why many simulations have difficulty reproducing the dynamical behavior of the Southern Hemisphere polar vortex in a realistic manner. Here we discuss a 12-year record (2003–2014) of stratospheric gravity wave activity at Southern Hemisphere orographic hotspots as observed by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Aqua satellite. We introduce a simple and effective approach, referred to as the “two-box method”, to detect gravity wave activity from infrared nadir sounder measurements and to discriminate between gravity waves from orographic and other sources. From austral mid-fall to mid-spring (April–October) the contributions of orographic sources to the observed gravity wave occurrence frequencies were found to be largest for the Andes (90 %), followed by the Antarctic Peninsula (76 %), Kerguelen Islands (73 %), Tasmania (70 %), New Zealand (67 %), Heard Island (60 %), and other hotspots (24–54 %). Mountain wave activity was found to be closely correlated with peak terrain altitudes, and with zonal winds in the lower troposphere and mid-stratosphere. We propose a simple model to predict the occurrence of mountain wave events in the AIRS observations using zonal wind thresholds at 3 and 750 hPa. The model has significant predictive skill for hotspots where gravity wave activity is primarily due to orographic sources. It typically reproduces seasonal variations of the mountain wave occurrence frequencies at the Antarctic Peninsula and Kerguelen Islands from near zero to over 60 % with mean absolute errors of 4–5 percentage points. The prediction model can be used to disentangle upper level wind effects on observed occurrence frequencies from low-level source and other influences. The data and methods presented here can help to identify interesting case studies in the vast amount of AIRS data, which could then be further explored to study the specific characteristics of stratospheric gravity waves from orographic sources and to support model validation.

scholarly journals Inclusion of mountain wave-induced cooling for the formation of PSCs over the Antarctic Peninsula in a chemistry–climate model

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 18277-18314 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Orr ◽  
J. S. Hosking ◽  
L. Hoffmann ◽  
J. Keeble ◽  
S. M. Dean ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Measured Temperature ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Mountain Waves ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. An important source of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which play a crucial role in controlling polar stratospheric ozone depletion, is from the temperature fluctuations induced by mountain waves. However, this formation mechanism is usually missing in chemistry–climate models because these temperature fluctuations are neither resolved nor parameterised. Here, we investigate the representation of stratospheric mountain wave-induced temperature fluctuations by the UK Met Office Unified Model (UM) at high and low spatial resolution against Atmospheric Infrared Sounder satellite observations for three case studies over the Antarctic Peninsula. At a high horizontal resolution (4 km) the mesoscale configuration of the UM correctly simulates the magnitude, timing, and location of the measured temperature fluctuations. By comparison, at a low horizontal resolution (2.5° × 3.75°) the climate configuration fails to resolve such disturbances. However, it is demonstrated that the temperature fluctuations computed by a mountain wave parameterisation scheme inserted into the climate configuration (which computes the temperature fluctuations due to unresolved mountain waves) are in excellent agreement with the mesoscale configuration responses. The parameterisation was subsequently used to compute the local mountain wave-induced cooling phases in the chemistry–climate configuration of the UM. This increased stratospheric cooling was passed to the PSC scheme of the chemistry–climate model, and caused a 30–50% increase in PSC surface area density over the Antarctic Peninsula compared to a 30 year control simulation.

scholarly journals Mountain-wave-induced polar stratospheric clouds and their representation in the global chemistry model ICON-ART

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 9515-9543
Author(s):  
Michael Weimer ◽  
Jennifer Buchmüller ◽  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Ole Kirner ◽  
Beiping Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
Polar Stratospheric Clouds ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Mountain Waves ◽  
Stratospheric Clouds ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are a driver for ozone depletion in the lower polar stratosphere. They provide surface for heterogeneous reactions activating chlorine and bromine reservoir species during the polar night. The large-scale effects of PSCs are represented by means of parameterisations in current global chemistry–climate models, but one process is still a challenge: the representation of PSCs formed locally in conjunction with unresolved mountain waves. In this study, we investigate direct simulations of PSCs formed by mountain waves with the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic modelling framework (ICON) with its extension for Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases (ART) including local grid refinements (nesting) with two-way interaction. Here, the nesting is set up around the Antarctic Peninsula, which is a well-known hot spot for the generation of mountain waves in the Southern Hemisphere. We compare our model results with satellite measurements of PSCs from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and gravity wave observations of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). For a mountain wave event from 19 to 29 July 2008 we find similar structures of PSCs as well as a fairly realistic development of the mountain wave between the satellite data and the ICON-ART simulations in the Antarctic Peninsula nest. We compare a global simulation without nesting with the nested configuration to show the benefits of adding the nesting. Although the mountain waves cannot be resolved explicitly at the global resolution used (about 160 km), their effect from the nested regions (about 80 and 40 km) on the global domain is represented. Thus, we show in this study that the ICON-ART model has the potential to bridge the gap between directly resolved mountain-wave-induced PSCs and their representation and effect on chemistry at coarse global resolutions.

Study of mountain-wave-induced stratospheric cooling over the Antarctic Peninsula using a parameterisation scheme in the UM-UKCA chemistry climate model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Orr ◽  
Scott Hosking ◽  
Aymeric Delon ◽  
Tracy Moffat-Griffin ◽  
Lars Hoffman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Temperature Threshold ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Stratospheric Cooling ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
The Antarctic

<p>An important source of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which play a crucial role in controlling polar stratospheric ozone depletion, is from the temperature fluctuations induced by mountain waves, enabling stratospheric temperatures to fall below the threshold value for PSC formation in the cold phases of these waves even if the synoptic-scale temperatures are too high. However, this formation mechanism is usually missing in chemistry–climate models because these temperature fluctuations are neither resolved nor parameterised. Here, we investigate the representation of parameterised stratospheric mountain-wave-induced temperature fluctuations over the Antarctic Peninsula from a 30-year run of the global chemistry-climate configuration of the UM-UKCA model against climatologies of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiance measurements and high-resolution radiosonde temperature soundings from Rothera. The results demonstrate that the local mountain wave-induced cooling phases computed by the scheme are in relatively good agreement with both sets of observations. For example, the scheme is able to capture the observed probability distribution of the temperature fluctuations, particularly the cold tails of the distribution that are critical for exceeding the temperature threshold for PSC formation. Further analysis shows that the increased stratospheric cooling induced by the scheme results in a large increase in total PSC ‘pseudo-volume’ of the area over the Antarctic Peninsula where the model temperature exceeds the temperature threshold of formation of PSCs.</p>

scholarly journals Large-amplitude gravity waves above the southern Andes, the Drake Passage, and the Antarctic Peninsula

2012 ◽  
Vol 117 (D2) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
A. de la Torre ◽  
P. Alexander ◽  
R. Hierro ◽  
P. Llamedo ◽  
A. Rolla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Large Amplitude ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Southern Andes ◽  
The Antarctic

scholarly journals Stratospheric gravity waves at southern hemisphere orographic hotspots: 2003–2014 AIRS/Aqua observations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Alison W. Grimsdell ◽  
M. Joan Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Gravity Waves ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Kerguelen Islands ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Stratospheric gravity waves from small-scale orographic sources are currently not well-represented in general circulation models. This may be a reason why many simulations have difficulty reproducing the dynamical behaviour of the southern hemisphere polar vortex in a realistic manner. Here we discuss a 12-year record (2003–2014) of stratospheric gravity wave activity at southern hemisphere orographic hotspots as observed by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Aqua satellite. We introduce a simple and effective approach, referred to as the "two-box method", to detect gravity wave activity from infrared nadir sounder measurements and to discriminate between gravity waves from orographic and other sources. From austral mid fall to mid spring (April–October) the contributions of orographic sources to the observed gravity wave occurrence frequencies were found to be largest for the Andes (90 %), followed by the Antarctic Peninsula (76 %), Kerguelen Islands (73 %), Tasmania (70 %), New Zealand (67 %), Heard Island (60 %), and other hotspots (24–54 %). Mountain wave activity was found to be closely correlated with peak terrain altitudes, and with zonal winds in the lower troposphere and mid stratosphere. We propose a simple model to predict the occurrence of mountain wave events in the AIRS observations using zonal wind thresholds at 3 hPa and 750 hPa. The model has significant predictive skill for hotspots where gravity wave activity is primarily due to orographic sources. It typically reproduces seasonal variations of the mountain wave occurrence frequencies at the Antarctic Peninsula and Kerguelen Islands from near zero to over 60 % with mean absolute errors of 4–5 percentage points. The prediction model can be used to disentangle upper level wind effects on observed occurrence frequencies from low level source and other influences. The data and methods presented here can help to identify interesting case studies in the vast amount of AIRS data, which could then be further explored to study the specific characteristics of stratospheric gravity waves from orographic sources and to support model validation.

scholarly journals Mountain-wave induced polar stratospheric clouds and their representation in the global chemistry model ICON-ART

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Weimer ◽  
Jennifer Buchmüller ◽  
Lars Hoffmann ◽  
Ole Kirner ◽  
Beiping Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Heterogeneous Reactions ◽  
Polar Stratospheric Clouds ◽  
Mountain Wave ◽  
Mountain Waves ◽  
Stratospheric Clouds ◽  
Wave Induced ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are a driver for ozone depletion in the lower polar stratosphere. They provide surfaces for heterogeneous reactions activating chlorine and bromine reservoir species during the polar night. PSCs are represented in current global chemistry-climate models, but one process is still a challenge: the representation of PSCs formed locally in conjunction with unresolved mountain waves. In this study, we present simulations with the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic modelling framework (ICON) with its extension for Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases (ART) that include local grid refinements (nesting) with two-way interaction. Here, the nesting is set up around the Antarctic Peninsula which is a well-known hot spot for the generation of mountain waves in the southern hemisphere. We compare our model results with satellite measurements from the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarisation (CALIOP) and the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS). We study a mountain wave event that took place from 19 to 29 July 2008 and find similar structures of PSCs as well as a fairly realistic development of the mountain wave in the Antarctic Peninsula nest. We compare a global simulation without nesting with the nested configuration to show the benefit. Although the mountain waves cannot be resolved adequately in the used global resolution (about 160 km), their effect from the nested regions (about 80 and 40 km) on the global domain is represented. Thus, we show in this study that by using the two-way nesting technique the gap between directly resolved mountain-wave induced PSCs and their representation and effect on chemistry in coarse global resolutions can be bridged by the ICON-ART model.

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