Modeling Dynamics and Impacts of a new class of Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities that Drive Enhanced Turbulence and Mixing in the MLT

用于天气和气候预测的最先进的大气环流模型低估了中层大气中湍流混合的数量，最高可达2倍，因此，错误地描述了CO2和其他主要大气成分的传输和全球分布。GCM将混合归因于一个单一的动力学来源，忽略了新发现的小尺度湍流过程，这些湍流过程被认为是在中层大气和更远的地方广泛存在的，甚至可能是无处不在的。这个项目将确定这些独特的“管和结”（T K）的不稳定动力学和它们的影响，通过观测指导，高分辨率的模拟研究混合。先进的湍流和化学分析能力将用于解决各种大气研究界的科学目标。由此产生的知识T K驱动的动量传输和沉积将有助于改进的混合参数化的GCM的发展，并产生更高的准确性天气和气候预报，以满足关键的社会需求。 它还将支持一名科罗拉多博尔德大学研究生和一名犹他州州立大学本科生的教育，同时促进推广活动，促进对周围社区代表性不足的大学预科学生的气候科学教育&。利用内部模型CGCAM和SAM的独特能力来表征扩展到湍流尺度的不稳定动力学，并在现实环境中的深域中混合。研究结果将通过解决GCM对涡动扩散系数Kzz的低估，改进天气和气候模式中的混合参数化方案。本研究的目标是确定和量化的大规模（平均和潮汐）和GW环境，使KHI T K动态，并占其空间尺度和强度;量化KHI T K动态的多样性，以及它们对能量耗散的影响，混合，并通过高分辨率建模在MLT的影响;并采用我们的KHI T K模型来评估其增强能量耗散率，混合，并暗示Kzz相对于那些预期的GW打破。解决这些研究目标的分析和建模方法将采用USU高级中间层温度成像仪（AMTM）OH气辉成像和GATS SAAMER雷达的KHI T K观测，以及智利火地岛和阿拉斯加扑克坪的风，温度和Na密度的激光雷达剖面，以指导代表性的建模环境（例如，GW和潮汐切变，多尺度叠加）。根据这些观测结果，将进行广泛的KHI T K模拟，以捕获不同环境条件下的响应多样性，并评估KHI T K混合，从而能够定义代表性剪切层尺度的KHI Kzz参数以及Richardson数和Reynolds数。这项研究将直接导致更好地了解MLT中未解决的混合动力学以及它们如何影响成分颗粒和能量传输到更高的大气层。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

State-of-the-art general circulation models (GCMs) used for weather and climate prediction underestimate the amount of turbulent mixing in the middle atmosphere by up to a factor of 2, and as a result, mischaracterize the transport and global distributions of CO2 and other primary atmospheric constituents. GCMs attribute mixing to a single dynamical source that neglects newly discovered, small-scale turbulent processes thought to be widespread, and perhaps even ubiquitous, in the middle atmosphere and beyond. This project will identify these unique “tube and knot” (T&K) instability dynamics and their implications for mixing through observationally guided, high-resolution modeling studies. Sophisticated turbulence and chemical analysis capabilities will be employed to address scientific goals among a diverse range of atmospheric research communities. The resulting knowledge of T&K-driven momentum transport and deposition will aid the development of improved mixing parameterizations in GCMs and yield higher accuracy weather and climate forecasting to address a critical societal need. It will also support the education of a University of Colorado Boulder graduate student and a Utah State University undergraduate student while facilitating outreach events that promote climate science education to under-represented pre-college students in the surrounding communities.This project will identify and quantify Kelvin Helmholtz instability (KHI) T&K dynamics and implications for mixing in the MLT via high-resolution modeling, utilizing the unique capabilities of in-house models CGCAM and SAM to characterize instability dynamics extending to turbulence scales and mixing in deep domains with realistic environments. The results will improve mixing parameterization schemes in weather and climate models by addressing GCM underestimation of the eddy diffusion coefficient Kzz. The goals of this research are to identify and quantify the large-scale (mean and tidal) and GW environments that enable KHI T&K dynamics, and account for their spatial scales and intensities; to quantify the diversity of KHI T&K dynamics, and their implications for energy dissipation, mixing, and influences in the MLT via high-resolution modeling; and to employ our KHI T&K modeling to assess their enhancements of energy dissipation rates, mixing, and implied Kzz relative to those expected for GW breaking. The analysis and modeling approach addressing these research goals will employ KHI T&K observations by USU Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM) OH airglow imaging and GATS SAAMER radar and lidar profiling of winds, temperatures, and Na densities in Tierra del Fuego, Chile, and Poker Flat, Alaska, to guide representative modeling environments (e.g., GW and tidal shears, multi-scale superpositions). Informed by these observations, a wide range of KHI T&K simulations will be performed to capture the diversity of responses for varying environmental conditions and evaluate KHI T&K mixing, enabling definition of the parameters dictating a KHI Kzz for representative shear layer scales and Richardson and Reynolds numbers. This research will directly result in a better understanding of unresolved mixing dynamics in the MLT and how they impact constituent particles and energy transport to higher levels of the atmosphere.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.