Phys.org December 23, 2024 To understand the impact of mesoscale variability, including gravity waves (GWs), on atmospheric circulation, a team of researchers in the US (Stanford University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory) extracted data from four months of an integrated data at 1 km resolution (XNR1K) using the Integrated Forecast System (IFS) model. They computed zonal and meridional flux of vertical momentum from ~1.5 petabytes of data. The fluxes were validated using ERA5 reanalysis, both during the first week after initialization and over the boreal winter period from November 2018 to February 2019. The agreement between reanalysis and IFS demonstrated its […]
Tag Archives: Gravity waves
Rarely Seen Gravity Waves Captured Rippling in Earth’s Atmosphere
Science Alert October 28, 2019 Gravity waves, also known as buoyancy waves, are a physical phenomenon where waves are generated in any fluid medium, such as waves at the beach, or ripples in a glass of water. They also take place in gases, like our atmosphere, and are called gravity waves because gravity is the force that restores equilibrium. In the atmosphere, they are generally created by obstructions to airflow, such as mountain ranges (on Venus, this creates enormous atmospheric waves), and by collisions between air masses of different temperatures. The latter is what caused the waves over Western Australia. […]