Gravity Waves in Polar Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Revealed in a Whole-atmospheric Global Atmospheric Model

Abstract:

Mesoscale gravity waves are simulated by carrying out the specified chemistry whole atmosphere community climate model (SC-WACCM) at the horizontal resolution of about 25 km to understand the origin of gravity waves in the polar mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) and their propagation properties throughout the whole atmosphere. Modeled gravity waves are also compared with gravity-wave activities estimated from meteor radar observations made in Antarctica by Korea Polar Research Institute. For this comparison, SC-WACCM is initialized at a specific date and time using atmospheric state variables from the ground to the thermosphere obtained from various data sets such as operational analyses and empirical wind and temperature model results. Model initial conditions are corrected for mass and dynamical balance to reduce spurious waves due to initial shocks. At conference, preliminary results of the mesoscale SC-WACCM simulation and its comparison with observations will be presented.