Derivation of Gravity Wave Characteristics from United States Radiosonde Data

理解中间大气(平流层和中间层)环流的关键是能够确定重力波在动量输送和沉积中的作用。考虑到模拟中间大气的尺度，涉及重力波的过程发生在次网格尺度上；因此，重力波的影响必须在模式中参数化。这些参数化需要一些对流层顶重力波谱的知识作为输入，但目前，由于缺乏适当的数据，对该谱知之甚少。1998年，高分辨率无线电探空仪首次实现了对风和温度的测量。盖勒博士和他的同事们将分析1998-2001年美国高分辨率无线电探空仪的风和温度数据。他们的分析将提供有关重力波谱的信息，这是为中层大气模型开发现实参数所需的信息。澳大利亚对该区域的无线电探空仪数据进行了类似的分析，提供了有关重力波形态的非常有用的信息。经分析的数据集将通过平流层过程及其在气候中的作用(SPARC)数据中心网站向国际社会提供，该数据中心目前位于纽约州立大学石溪分校。除了开发这个数据集，盖勒博士还将进行一些额外的分析，试图确定重力波的对流层来源。他们还将尽可能研究美国上空重力波谱的年际变化。

Key to understanding the circulation of the middle atmosphere (stratosphere and mesosphere) is the ability to characterize the role of gravity waves in the transport and deposition of momentum. Given the scales at which the middle atmosphere is modeled, the processes involving gravity waves occur at sub-grid scales; thus, the effects of gravity waves must be parameterized in the models. These parameterizations require some knowledge of the gravity wave spectrum at the tropopause as input, but at this time, little is known about that spectrum because of lack of appropriate data. In 1998, high-resolution radiosonde measurements of wind and temperature became available for the first time. Dr. Geller and his colleagues will analyze the U.S. high-resolution radiosonde wind and temperature data for the years 1998-2001. Their analyses will provide the kind of information on gravity wave spectra that is needed to develop realistic parameterizations for middle atmosphere models. Similar analyses of radiosonde data have been done in Australia for that region and have provided very useful information on the morphology of gravity waves. The analyzed data sets will be made available to the international community through the Stratospheric Processes and Their Role in Climate (SPARC) Data Center web site which current resides at SUNY-Stony Brook. In addition to developing this data set, Dr. Geller also will perform a number of additional analyses in an attempt to identify the tropospheric sources of gravity waves. They will also examine, to the extent possible, the interannual variability of the gravity wave spectrum over the U.S.