Characteristics of Gravity Wave Horizontal Phase Velocity Spectra in the Mesosphere Over the Antarctic Stations, Syowa and Davis

Abstract

Gravity waves (GW) play an essential role in transporting momentum vertically and driving the circulation in the middle atmosphere . Current global circulation models (GCMs) cannot resolve the full spectrum of GWs so that GW influences (GW drags) are parametrized in GCMs. Although the GW drag parameterization schemes improve the ability of GCMs to reproduce observations, they still poorly represent GW sources, spectra, local variability, and intermittency, which causes deviations between GCMs and the real atmosphere (Alexander et al., 2010). Inadequate knowledge of GWs is a key element of this limitation.