Overview and Initial Results from the DEEPWAVE Airborne and Ground-Based Measurement Program

Abstract:

The deep-propagating gravity wave experiment (DEEPWAVE) was performed on and over New Zealand, the Tasman Sea, and the Southern Ocean with core airborne measurements extending from 5 June to 21 July 2014 and supporting ground-based measurements spanning a longer interval. The NSF/NCAR GV employed standard flight-level measurements and new airborne lidar and imaging measurements of gravity waves (GWs) from sources at lower altitudes throughout the stratosphere and into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). The new GV lidars included a Rayleigh lidar measuring atmospheric density and temperature from ~20-60 km and a sodium resonance lidar measuring sodium density and temperature at ~75-105 km. An airborne Advanced Mesosphere Temperature Mapper (AMTM) and two IR “wing” cameras imaged the OH airglow temperature and/or intensity fields extending ~900 km across the GV flight track. The DLR Falcon was equipped with its standard flight-level instruments and an aerosol Doppler lidar measuring radial winds below the Falcon. DEEPWAVE also included extensive ground-based measurements in New Zealand, Tasmania, and Southern Ocean Islands.

DEEPWAVE performed 26 GV flights and 13 Falcon flights, and ground-based measurements occurred whether or not the aircraft were flying. Collectively, many diverse cases of GW forcing, propagation, refraction, and dissipation spanning altitudes of 0-100 km were observed. Examples include strong mountain wave (MW) forcing and breaking in the lower and middle stratosphere, weak MW forcing yielding MW penetration into the MLT having very large amplitudes and momentum fluxes, MW scales at higher altitudes ranging from ~10-250 km, large-scale trailing waves from orography refracting into the polar vortex and extending to high altitudes, GW generation by deep convection, large-scale GWs arising from jet stream sources, and strong MWs in the MLT arising from strong surface flow over a small island. DEEPWAVE yielded a number of surprises, among them the tendency for very strong MLT responses under weak forcing conditions, frequent GW penetration to the highest altitudes, and often remarkable abilities of the various forecast models to provide good qualitative agreement with observed GW fields for those sources that were resolved, especially orography and jet streams.