The North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment (NAWDEX) explored the impact of diabatic processes on disturbances of the jet stream and their influence on downstream high-impact weather through the deployment of four research aircraft, each with a sophisticated set of remote sensing and in situ instruments, and coordinated with a suite of ground-based measurements. A total of 49 research flights were performed, including, for the first time, coordinated flights of the four aircraft: the German High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO), the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) Dassault Falcon 20, the French Service des Avions Français Instrumentés pour la Recherche en Environnement (SAFIRE) Falcon 20, and the British Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe 146. The observation period from 17 September to 22 October 2016 with frequently occurring extratropical and tropical cyclones was ideal for investigating midlatitude weather over the North Atlantic. NAWDEX featured three sequences of upstream triggers of waveguide disturbances, as well as their dynamic interaction with the jet stream, subsequent development, and eventual downstream weather impact on Europe. Examples are presented to highlight the wealth of phenomena that were sampled, the comprehensive coverage, and the multifaceted nature of the measurements. This unique dataset forms the basis for future case studies and detailed evaluations of weather and climate predictions to improve our understanding of diabatic influences on Rossby waves and the downstream impacts of weather systems affecting Europe.

We analyze a large‐amplitude mountain wave event, which was observed by a ground‐based lidar above New Zealand between 31 July and 1 August 2014. Besides the lidar observations, European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) data, satellite observations, and ray tracing simulations are utilized in this study. It is found that the propagation of mountain waves into the middle atmosphere is influenced by two different processes at different stages of the event. At the beginning of the event, instabilities in a weak wind layer cause wave breaking in the lower stratosphere. During the course of the event the mountain waves propagate to higher altitudes and are refracted southward toward the polar night jet due to the strong meridional shear of the zonal wind. As the waves propagate out of the observational volume, the ground‐based lidar observes no mountain waves in the mesosphere. Ray tracing simulations indicate that the mountain waves propagated to mesospheric altitudes south of New Zealand where the polar night jet advected the waves eastward. These results underline the importance of considering horizontal propagation of gravity waves, e.g., when analyzing locally confined observations of gravity waves.

On 4 July 2014, during the Deep Propagating Gravity Wave Experiment (DEEPWAVE), strong low‐level horizontal winds of up to 35 m s−1 over the Southern Alps, New Zealand, caused the excitation of gravity waves having the largest vertical energy fluxes of the whole campaign (38 W m−2). At the same time, large‐amplitude mesospheric gravity waves were detected by the Temperature Lidar for Middle Atmospheric Research (TELMA) located at Lauder (45.0°S, 169.7°E), New Zealand. The coincidence of these two events leads to the question of whether the mesospheric gravity waves were generated by the strong tropospheric forcing. To answer this, an extensive data set is analyzed, comprising TELMA, in situ aircraft measurements, radiosondes, wind lidar measurements aboard the DLR Falcon as well as Rayleigh lidar and advanced mesospheric temperature mapper measurements aboard the National Science Foundation/National Center for Atmospheric Research Gulfstream V. These measurements are further complemented by limited area simulations using a numerical weather prediction model. This unique data set confirms that strong tropospheric forcing can cause large‐amplitude gravity waves in the mesosphere, and that three essential ingredients are required to achieve this: first, nearly linear propagation across the tropopause; second, leakage through the stratospheric wind minimum; and third, amplification in the polar night jet. Stationary gravity waves were detected in all atmospheric layers up to the mesosphere with horizontal wavelengths between 20 and 100 km. The complete coverage of our data set from troposphere to mesosphere proved to be valuable to identify the processes involved in deep gravity wave propagation.

Stall warnings at flight level 410 (12.5 km) occurred unexpectedly during a research flight of the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) over Italy on 12 January 2016. The dangerous flight situation was mitigated by pilot intervention. At the incident location, the stratosphere was characterized by large horizontal variations in the along-track wind speed and temperature. On this particular day, strong northwesterly winds in the lower troposphere in concert with an aligned polar front jet favored the excitation and vertical propagation of large-amplitude mountain waves at and above the Apennines in Italy. These mountain waves carried large vertical energy fluxes of 8 W m−2 and propagated without significant dissipation from the troposphere into the stratosphere. While turbulence is a well-acknowledged hazard to aviation, this case study reveals that nonbreaking, vertically propagating mountain waves also pose a potential hazard, especially to high-flying aircraft. It is the wave-induced modulation of the ambient along-track wind speed that may decrease the aircraft speed toward the minimum needed stall speed.

Strong turbulence was encountered by the German High-Altitude Long-Range Research Aircraft (HALO) at flight level 430 (13.8 km) on 13 October 2016 above Iceland. In this event the turbulence caused altitude changes of the research aircraft of about 50 m within a period of approximately 15 s. Additionally, the automatic thrust control of the HALO could not control the large gradients in the horizontal wind speed and, consequently, the pilot had to switch off this system. Simultaneously, the French Falcon of Service des Avions Français Instrumentés pour la Recherche en Environnement (SAFIRE), flying 2 km below HALO, also encountered turbulence at almost the same location. On that day, mountain-wave (MW) excitation and propagation was favored by the alignment of strong surface winds and the polar front jet. We use a combination of in situ observations, ECMWF and empirical turbulence forecasts, and high-resolution simulations to characterize the observed turbulent event. These show that a pronounced negative vertical shear of the horizontal wind favored overturning and breaking of MWs in the area of the encountered turbulence. The turbulent region was tilted upstream and extended over a distance of about 2 km in the vertical. The analyses suggest that HALO was flying through the center of a breaking MW field while the French Falcon encountered the lower edge of this region. Surprisingly, the pronounced gradients in the horizontal wind speeds leading to the deactivation of the automatic thrust control were located north of the breaking MW field. In this area, our analysis suggests the presence of gravity waves that could have generated the encountered modulation of the horizontal wind field.