Collaborative Research: Studies of Waves and Circulation Features in the Antarctic Stratosphere Using Super-Pressure Balloon Data

该项目根据超压气球的数据对南极平流层极涡的环流进行研究。 SPB有一个半刚性的外壳，在内部气体的压力下，保持恒定的体积，因此保持恒定的有效密度，而不管加热和冷却，因此，它们随着风沿着一个几乎水平的表面恒定的密度。 该项目的数据来自两个实地活动，VORCORE（2005年27个SPB）和CONCORDIASI（2010年18个SPB），这两个活动都从南极洲发射气球，上升到70至50 mb之间的水平，并在极地涡旋内循环了几个月。 SPB携带的仪器包括小型下投式探空仪、用于掩星探测的GPS接收器、臭氧传感器和云冰粒子计数器。 在该奖项下进行的研究研究惯性重力波和大规模运输跨越和内部的极涡，有四个具体目标：1）在空间域和谱域上对南极上空惯性波场和重力波场的精确统计描述; 2）基于重力波动量通量计算的重力波参数化约束条件的建立; 3）重力波对极地平流层云形成的影响（PSC，它在臭氧消耗中起着重要作用），4）与极涡有关的空气交换和输送中起作用的基本动力学过程，重点是Rossby波破碎的作用。 这项工作结合了观测分析和建模，并使用动力系统理论激发的新方法来解决极地涡旋内部和内部的空气交换和输送问题。 首先，这里研究的过程都与臭氧洞的形成有关，因为臭氧消耗取决于平流层空气穿过极地涡旋和在极地涡旋内部的输送和混合，重力波运动可能在形成PSC中发挥作用。 其次，重力波动量通量被认为在确定大气环流强度方面起着重要作用，重力波的影响在天气和气候模式中被描述。 因此，重力波特性的观测分析可能有利于天气和气候建模和预测。 此外，这项工作将支持和培训一名研究生，从而为这一领域的下一代科学家提供支持。

This project conducts research on the circulation of the Antarctic stratospheric polar vortex based on data from super pressure balloons (SPBs). SPBs have a semi-rigid envelope which, under pressure from the gas inside, maintains constant volume and hence constant effective density regardless of heating and cooling, so that they move with the wind along a nearly horizontal surface of constant density. Data for this project comes from two field campaigns,VORCORE (27 SPBs in 2005) and CONCORDIASI (18 SPBs in 2010), both of which launched balloons from Antarctica which rose to levels between 70 and 50mb and circulated within the polar vortex for several months. Instruments carried by the SPBs included miniaturized dropsondes, GPS receivers for occultation soundings, ozone sensors, and cloud ice particle counters. Research conducted under this award studies inertia-gravity waves and large-scale transport across and within the polar vortex, with four specific objectives: 1) The accurate statistical descriptions of the inertial and gravity wave fields over the Antarctic in the spatial and spectral domains, 2) The formulation of constraints for gravity wave parameterizations based on calculation of gravity wave momentum flux, 3) The influence of gravity waves on the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs, which play an important role in ozone depletion), and 4) The fundamental dynamical process at work in air exchanges and transports in relation to the polar vortex, with an emphasis on the role of Rossby wave breaking. The work uses a combination of observational analysis and modeling, and uses novel methods motivated by dynamical systems theory to address air exchange and transport across and within the polar vortex.The problems addressed in the proposal are of societal as well as scientific interest for two reasons. First, the processes examined here are all relevant to the formation of the ozone hole, as ozone depletion depends on transport and mixing of stratospheric air across and within the polar vortex, and gravity wave motions may play a role in the formation of PSCs. Second, gravity wave momentum fluxes are thought to play an important role in determining the strength of atmospheric circulation, and the effects of gravity waves are paremeterized in weather and climate models. Thus, observational analysis of gravity wave properties may be beneficial for weather and climate modeling and prediction. In addition, the work will support and train a graduate student, thereby providing for the next generation of scientists in this field.