Stratospheric gravity waves generated by multiscale tropical convection
The generation of gravity waves by multiscale cloud systems evolving in an initially motionless and thermodynamically uniform environment is explored using a two-dimensional cloud-system-resolving model. The simulated convection has similar depth and intensity to observed tropical oceanic systems. The convection self-organizes into preferred horizontal and temporal scales involving weakly organized propagating cloud clusters. The multiscale systems generate a broad spectrum of gravity waves with horizontal scales that range from the cloud-system scale up to the cloud-cluster scale. The gravity waves with the largest horizontal scale play an important role in modifying layered tropospheric inflow and outflow to the cloud systems, which in turn influence the multiscale convective organization. Slower-moving short-scale gravity waves make the strongest individual contribution to the vertical flux of horizontal momentum and cause a robust peak in the momentum flux spectrum that corresponds to the lifetime and spatial scale of the individual cloud systems.
document
https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7st7q1b
eng
geoscientificInformation
Text
publication
2016-01-01T00:00:00Z
publication
2008-08-01T00:00:00Z
Copyright 2008 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.
None
OpenSky Support
UCAR/NCAR - Library
PO Box 3000
Boulder
80307-3000
name: homepage
pointOfContact
OpenSky Support
UCAR/NCAR - Library
PO Box 3000
Boulder
80307-3000
name: homepage
pointOfContact
2025-07-17T15:56:47.160691