Long circumpolar atmospheric waves

Summary The periods of long waves in the circumpolar atmosphere are considerably longer than at lower latitudes because the variation of the Coriolis parameter with latitude decreases from the equator to the poles. The period length increases with decreasing meridional extent of the oscillation and with increasing meridional wave number. Numerical examples of period lengths for different longitudinal and meridional wave numbers and for different meridional extents of the oscillations are shown in Figs. 1–3. The vertical variation of the oscillations is considered only for the simple case of an isothermal atmosphere in order to illustrate the role of the vertical structure of the atmosphere in determining the free oscillations and in regulating the atmospheric response to a forcing function. As a specific example a periodic heating function has been assumed whose intensity decreases upward exponentially. With plausible values for the amplitude of this heating function reasonable values are obtained for the wind and pressure disturbance due to the heating.

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Lange Wellen in der polaren Atmosphäre

Zusammenfassung Die Perioden langer Wellen in der polaren Atmosphäre sind wesentlich länger als in den niederen Breiten, da die Änderung des Coriolisparameters mit der Breite vom Äquator zu den Polen abnimmt. Die Periodenlänge nimmt zu mit abnehmender meridionaler Ausdehnung der Schwingung und mit zunehmender meridionaler Wellenzahl. Numerische Werte von Periodenlängen sind aus Abb. 1–3 zu ersehen. Die Vertikalstruktur der Schwingungen ist für den einfachen Fall einer isothermen Atmosphäre behandelt, um zu zeigen, wie die vertikale Schichtung der Atmosphäre die freien Schwingungen bestimmt und die Ansprechung auf erzwungene Schwingungen reguliert. Als konkretes Beispiel wird eine periodische Erwärmung und Abkühlung angenommen, die mit der Höhe exponentiell abnimmt. Mit realistischen Werten für diese periodische Erwärmung ergeben sich plausible Wind- und Druckwerte.

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With 5 Figures     

旋转球面上行星波的共振相互作用

本文从球面非线性位涡方程出发,应用多重尺度法导出了三波共振的耦合方程.求得非线性耦合方程的通解可以用椭圆函数表示,因而扰动的能量及其变化是有界的.同时,还探讨了共振三波组的守恒律以及共振激发过程中能量的转换.指出在一定的初始条件下,非线性相互作用是可逆的;且就纬向波数谱而言,大波数模态的初始扰动能量在共振激发过程中可以完全转化为较小波数模态的能量.并揭示了旋转大气中非线性行星波动的孤立子性质.     

Advances in Studies on Nonlinear Atmospheric Waves

A review on the progress in the research of nonlinear atmospheric waves, especially the nonlinear Rossby waves is made in this paper. Many results reported here have been obtained in Peking University.     

The influence of atmospheric stratification on the growth of water waves

The atmospheric surface layer over sea has a density stratification which varies with moisture content and air/sea temperature difference. This influences the growth of water waves. To study the effect quantitatively, the Reynolds equations are solved numerically. For given wind speed and surface roughness, wave growth is found to be more rapid in unstably stratified conditions than in stable conditions. This is due to an increase in turbulence, primarily caused by an increase of mixing length.Under the assumption of a Charnock relation between surface roughness and friction velocity, it is found that for large inverse wave age (u _*/c>0.07), the effect of stratification on wave growth is weell described by Monin-Obukhov scaling of the friction velocity. For smaller values ofu _*/c, Monin-Obukhov scaling overpredicts.The effect on duration-limited wave growth is studied with the third-generation WAM surface wave model driven by 10 m winds. Effects of stratification on the significant wave height are found to be of the order of 10%. The results are comparable to those of a recent reanalysis of field measurements, although the measured stratification effect is somewhat stronger. Implementation of a stratification-dependent growth in wave models is recommended, as it can lead to small but significant improvements in wave forecasts when accurate air and sea temperatures are available.     

Effect of atmospheric stability on the growth of surface gravity waves

In this paper we study the effect of atmospheric stability on the growth of surface gravity waves. To that end we numerically solved the Taylor-Goldstein equation for wind profiles which deviate from a logarithmic form because stratification affects the turbulent momentum transport. Using Charnock's relation for the roughness height z ₀ of the wind profile, it is argued that the growth rate of the wave depends on the dimensionless phase velocity c/u _* (where u _* is the friction velocity) and a measure of the effect of atmospheric stability, namely the dimensionless Obukhov length gL/u _* ², whereas it only depends weakly on gz _t /u _* ² (where z _t is the roughness height of the temperature profile). Remarkably for a given value of u _* /c, the growth rate is larger for a stable stratification (L > 0) than for an unstable one (L < 0). We explain why this is the case. If, on the other hand, one considers the growth rate as a function of c/U ₁₀ (where U ₁₀ is the windspeed at 10 m), the situation reverses for c/U ₁₀ < 1. For practical application in wave prediction models, we propose a new parameterization of the growth rate of the waves which is an improvement of the Snyder et al. (1981) proposal because the effect of stability is taken into account.     

多维约化摄动和大气中的非线性波

本文把一维约化摄动法推广到多维的情形.指出此方法是研究大气中非线性波传播和相互作用的有利工具.并通过求解Cubic-Schrodinger方程,来说明此方法在气象问题中的具体应用.     

Internal atmospheric gravity waves near the coast of Antarctica

Two gravity wave events as observed at Georg von Neumayer Station in Antarctica are described and analyzed. Wind and temperature are recorded at a meteorological tower. Surface pressure time series are available from four sites so that rather exact evaluations of phase speed and wavelength are possible. Radiosonde ascents provide information on the structure of the atmosphere above the boundary layer.The pressure traces of both events are dominated by sinusoidal oscillations with a well defined frequency. Related variations of wind and temperature are small during the first event (16 July 1986) as are those of temperature on 29 September 1986. However, wind oscillations are quite large during this second event. An attempt is made to interpret the data in the light of linear gravity theory. It is found that linear gravity waves of frequency and phase speed as observed were able to propagate throughout the troposphere on 16 July. We conjecture on the basis of linear theory that the wave of 29 September was propagating on the surface inversion.     

大气Rossby波动力学的研究进展

Rossby波是旋转大气和海洋中的一类重要波动,在天气和气候演变中起有重要的作用。该文介绍了北半球中纬度地区的两类重要Rossby波——斜压不稳定波和准定常行星波,在最近20余年来取得的一些重要研究进展。文中涉及的主要研究领域有：斜压不稳定波包动力学、湿斜压过程对斜压不稳定波的作用、北半球风暴轴动力学、斜压波包与高影响天气的预报、准定常行星波的形成机理、准定常行星波的水平传播与能量频散、准定常行星波的垂直传播与能量频散、三维准定常行星波的传播与能量频散。     

Apparent counter-gradient heat fluxes generated by atmospheric waves

In studies of turbulence, tower data are used to measure vertical fluxes of momentum and heat generated by correlations in the fluctuating fields. Similar time averages of wu and w may be computed for an interval of wave activity observed at an instrumented tower. However, it is shown that such measurements do not necessarily correspond to the conventional Reynold's stresses or vertical heat fluxes. And waves can appear to have non-zero and even countergradient fluxes when proper averages show no fluxes at all.These spurious fluxes are generated by the method of analysis, a Fourier series performed on a finite time interval. Any background disturbance that is not strictly confined to the interval will generate a spurious wave spectrum. In particular, long-period waves will generate terms that interfere with the true high frequency waves to give false wave fluxes. The theoretical findings of this paper provide a ready explanation of tower data that would otherwise appear to conflict with conventional wave theory.     

The observed generation and breaking of atmospheric internal gravity waves over the ocean

Observations are presented for internal gravity waves and their breaking at a height of 23.5 m over the ocean in surface-based inversions which are formed because of the advection of warm air over cold water. The spectral and cospectral analyses of velocity and temperature fluctuations were made to establish the characteristic features of the waves. Flow visualization photographs of smoke released during the breaking of a wave are also presented. Comparison between the turbulent energies present during and after breaking of a wave indicates enormous mixing and dispersion occurring during breaking.This research was performed under Contract No. EY-76-C-02-0016 with the United States Energy Research and Development Administration.     

The relationship between the wind and waves in the North Atlantic and atmospheric circulation oscillations

Characteristics of wind and waves are computed using the data of instrumental observations on the moored buoys in the northeastern part of the North Atlantic during the cold periods (November–March) of 2009–2013. Their comparison is carried out for different phases of the North Atlantic and East Atlantic oscillations and for the combinations of these phases.     

Sensitivity of near-surface atmospheric circulation to tropical instability waves

A set of atmospheric general circulation model experiments were performed where the Community Atmospheric Model version 3.1 is forced with sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) that have the imprint of tropical instability waves (TIWs) of varying strengths. The presence of TIWs in the SSTs increased the variance in the large-scale circulation in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The impact of TIWs in the SST anomalies is directly seen in enhanced mixing of the air temperature anomalies, thereby diffusing the air temperature gradients setup by the oceanic fronts throughout the ABL. The presence of TIWs transformed the diffusive-natured ABL to advection-dominated regime. This implies that within the ABL, the presence of TIWs leads to the enhanced interactions among the neighboring grid cells and prompts greater horizontal communications among atmospheric variables. However, the advection in the ABL due to the TIWs is not a linear function of increasing TIW strength. Unlike air temperature, zonal, and vertical velocity, the variance in the meridional velocity changes at the top of the ABL due to the momentum mixing across the ABL in the vertical direction. This causes the ABL to be more turbulent beyond seasonal time scales. This analysis also suggests that a simple parameterization is not sufficient to take the account of rectification effects on the atmospheric variables that are missing due to the lack of TIW representation in the coarse-resolution coupled general circulation models.     

Spatial reorganization of SST anomalies by stationary atmospheric waves

The dynamics of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies that force stationary atmospheric waves, which in turn, feed back on the SST field is addressed. The phenomena is isolated by analyzing the dynamics of a slab ocean that is thermally coupled to an atmospheric model. Particular emphasis is put on identifying SST structures that are weakly damped by the joint effect of air–sea heat transfer and atmospheric wave dynamics.A frame work is presented that singles out long-lived SST features in a slab ocean coupled to an arbitrary linear atmospheric model. It is demonstrated that an SST anomaly eventually disintegrates into a number of propagating wave packets. The wave packets are confined in a Gaussian envelope, and each packet is tied to a stationary wave of a particular wavelength. These structures are a manifestation of coupled SST-atmosphere mode, for which the atmosphere and the ocean nearly are in thermal equilibrium. However, a small disequilibrium causes the wave packet to propagate and to broaden in an apparent diffusive manner.Central ideas pertaining to the mid-latitude SST dynamics are illustrated by analyzing the thermal feedback between a two-level atmospheric model (on a β-plane) and a dynamically passive slab ocean. The relevance of the present idealized coupled-modes to the SST variability in the mid-latitudes and in atmospheric GCMs coupled to slab oceans is discussed.     

月平均环流的长期数值预报

本文对当前月平均环流的长期数值预报状况做了总结,用大气环流模式做月平均500hPa高度预报,相关系数约0.4。对两类集合预报,即蒙特卡罗预报与落后平均预报的优缺点进行了比较。最后讨论了月平均环流预报的可预报性,指出有可能做6—11个月的预报,但预报准确率因受气候噪声影响而有一定限度。     

青藏高原上空大气低频波的振荡及其经向传播

本文得出的初步结论是:在青藏高原所在的经度范围内,从低纬到高纬的各纬带上,大气低频波存在30—40天的周期振荡现象.500 hPa等压面上,青藏高原地区生成的气旋、反气旋切变可以向南、向北传播到低纬、高纬地区.200 hPa等压面上,中纬度地区生成的气旋、反气旋切变也可以向南、向北传播到低纬、高纬地区.对流层中层,青藏高原是大气低频波振荡源地,可能与青藏高原的热力、动力作用有关;对流层上层中纬度地区是大气低频波的振荡源地,可能是西风急流的作用. 由于大气低频波的振荡和传播与低值系统有关,与急流相联系,因而具有现实的预报意义.     

A one-dimensional model for the interaction between continental-scale ice sheets and atmospheric stationary waves

 The great continental ice sheets of the Pleistocene represented a significant topographic obstacle to the westerly winds in northern midlatitudes. This work explores how consequent changes in the atmospheric stationary wave pattern might have affected the shape and growth of the ice sheets themselves. A one dimensional (1-D) model is developed which permits an examination of the types and magnitudes of the feedbacks that might be expected. When plausible temperature perturbations are introduced at the ice-sheet margin which are proportional to the stationary wave amplitude, the equilibrium shape of the ice sheet is significantly altered, and depends on the sign of the perturbation. The proposed feedback also affects the response of the ice sheet to time-varying climate forcing. The results suggest that the evolution of a continental-scale ice sheet with a land-based margin may be significantly determined by the changes it induces in the atmospheric circulation. Received: 1 October 1999 / Accepted: 17 July 2000     

Equatorial solitary waves of tropical atmospheric motion in shear flow

Starting from the primary equations, the author derives the KdV equation which describes solitary Rossby waves in the tropical atmosphere, and indicates that, because these waves are ageostrophic, they differ from the quasigeostrophic solitary Rossby waves studied by Redekopp et al. Owing to nonlinear action, these waves are also different from traditional linear waves of the tropical atmosphere. The author believes that the stationary tropical atmospheric waves reflect the characteristics of solitary waves in that the energy does not disperse.     

Dangerous wind waves in the North Atlantic at different regimes of atmospheric circulation

Studied are the formation processes of dangerous wind waves in the water area of the North Atlantic during three cold periods (October–March) from 2007 to 2010. Obtained are the estimates of variability of cyclone trajectories, wind fields, and wave height in the North Atlantic at the intensification of zonal or meridional atmospheric circulation.