A Statistical Investigation of Inertia Gravity Wave Activity Based on MST Radar Observations at Xianghe (116.9°E, 39.8°N), China

Abstract

Gravity waves (GWs) play an important role in coupling among the different atmospheric layers because they transport energy and momentum from one atmospheric layer to another and drive the background flow through their dissipation (Fritts & Alexander, 2003;Lindzen, 1981). GWs are mid-and small-scale atmospheric perturbations, and their intrinsic frequencies are confined to the range between inertia frequency and buoyancy frequency. In the atmosphere, various dynamic and thermodynamic processes may generate perturbations in the spatial and temporal scale of GWs. Convection, wind shear, and orography are generally taken as the dominant wave sources (Fritts & Alexander, 2003), while other sources, such as geostrophic adjustment (

Comparative Analysis of Gravity Wave Characteristics in China and the United States Using High Vertical Resolution Radiosonde Observations

“…They manifest horizontal wavelengths ranging from a few kilometers to several thousand kilometers and possess vertical wavelengths varying from 0 to the circumference of the Earth. Various observational techniques, including radiosondes (Allen & Vincent, 1995; Murphy et al., 2014; Vincent & Alexander, 2000; Vincent et al., 1997), long‐duration balloons (Boccara et al., 2008; Hertzog & Vial, 2001; Vincent & Alexander, 2020), radars (Eckermann et al., 1995; Ning et al., 2022), aircrafts (Atlas & Bretherton, 2023; Kim et al., 2016), satellites (Alexander et al., 2008; Jiang et al., 2004), and other techniques (Li et al., 2011), have been used to estimate the characteristic parameters of gravity waves. While no single technique can comprehend all these scales, the use of high vertical resolution raw radiosonde data, in tandem with a widespread network of sounding stations and regular launch schedules, presents a potentially invaluable resource of obtaining information on gravity waves.…”