Middle Atmosphere

465 Pages·1989·14.6 MB·English

by  R. Alan Plumb, Robert A. Vincent (auth.), Robert A. Vincent (eds.)

Middle Atmosphere
Edited by
R. Alan Plumb
Robert A. Vincent
1989 Springer Basel AG
Reprint from Pure and Applied Geophysics
(PAGEOPH), Volume 130 (1989), No. 2/3
Editors' addresses:
R. Alan Plumb RobertA. Vincent
Center for Meteorology and Department of Physics
Physical Oceanography University of Adelaide
Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
Cambridge, MA02139
USA
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Middle atmosphere I edited by R. Alan Plumb, RobertA. Vincent
p. cm.
»Reprint from Pure and applied geophysics (PAGEOPH), volume 130
(1989), no. 2/3« --T. p. verso.
Includes bibliographies.
1. Middle atmosphere. 1. Plurnb, R. Alan, 1948 -. H. Vincent, R. (Robert), 1942-
QC881.2.M53M528 1989 551.5--dc19 89-81
CIP-Titelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
Middle atmosphere / ed. by R. Alan Plurnb; Robert A. Vincent. - Reprint. -
Basel; Boston; Berlin : Birkhäuser, 1989
Aus: Pure and applied geophysics ; Vol. 130
NE: Plurnb, R. Alan [Hrsg.]
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, wh ether the whole or part
of the material is concemed, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of
illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means,
and storage in data banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are
made for other than private use a fee is payable to »VerwertungsgesellschaftWort«, Munich.
©1989 Springer Basel AG
Originally published by Birkhäuser Verlag Basel in 1989.
ISBN 978-3-7643-2290-8 ISBN 978-3-0348-5825-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-0348-5825-0
Contents
149 Introduction, R. A. Plumb and R. A. Vincent
151 Earlier days of gravity waves revisited, C. O. Hines
171 A note on some early radiosonde temperature observations in the Antarctic
lower stratosphere, H. R. Phillpot
181 The impact of base-level analyses on stratospheric circulation statistics for the
Southern Hemisphere, D. J. Karoly
195 Comparison of data and derived quantities for the middle atmosphere of the
Southern Hemisphere, W. L. Grase and A. O'Neill
213 Some comparisons between the middle atmosphere dynamics of the Southern
and Northern Hemispheres, D. G. Andrews
233 On the seasonal cycle of stratospheric planetary waves, R. A. Plumb
243 Body force circulations in a compressible atmosphere: Key concepts, T. J.
Dunkerton
263 Satellite data analysis of ozone differences in the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres, M. A. Geiler, M. F. Wu and E. Nash
277 Further evidence of normal mode Rossby waves, T. Hirooka and 1. Hirota
291 Monthly mean winds in the mesosphere at 44S and 78S, G. J. Fraser
303 Radar observations of prevailing winds and waves in the Southern Hemi-
sphere mesosphere and lower thermosphere, A. Phi/Ups and R. A. Vincent
319 Comparison of geostrophic and nonlinear balanced winds from UMS data
and implications for derived dynamical quantities, T. Mi/es and W. L. Grose
343 A review of gravity wave saturation processes, effects, and variability in the
middle atmosphere, D. C. FrUts
373 Theory of internal gravity wave saturation, T. J. Dunkerton
399 A theory of enhaneed saturation of the gravity wave speetrum due to
inereases in atmospherie stability, T. E. VanZandt and D. C. Fritts
421 The effeet of horizontal resolution on gravity waves simulated by the GFDL
"SKYHI" general eireulation model, Y. Hayashi, D. G. Golder, J. D.
Mahlman and S. Miyahara
445 Laboratory observations of gravity wave eritieal-Iayer flows, D. P. Delisi and
T. J. Dunkerton
463 Wind fluetuations near a eold vortex-tropopause funnel system observed by
the MV radar, S. Fukao, M. D. Yamanaka, H. Matsumoto, T. Sato, T. Tsuda
and S. Kato
481 Internal gravity wave seleetion in the upper troposphere and lower strato-
sphere observed by the MV radar: Pre\iminary results, M. D. Yamanaka, S.
Fukao, H. Matsumoto, T. Sato, T. Tsuda and S. Kato
497 High time resolution monitoring of tropospherie temperature with a radio
aeoustie sounding system (RASS), T. Tsuda, Y. Masuda, H. Inuki, K.
Takahashi, T. Takami, T. Sato, S. Fukao and S. Kato
509 Falling sphere observations of anisotropie gravity wave motions in the upper
stratosphere over Australia, S. D. Eckermann and R. A. Vincent
533 Constraints on gravity wave indueed diffusion in the middle atmosphere, D. F.
Strobel
547 Temperature and heat flux speetra in the turbulent buoyaney subrange,
C. Sidi and F. Dalaudier
571 Interpretation, reliability and aeeuraeies of parameters dedueed by the spaeed
anten na method in middle atmosphere applieations, W. K. Hocking, P. May
and J. Röttger
605 Full-eorrelation analysis of turbulent seattering layers in the mesosphere
observed by the MV radar, M. Yamamoto, T. Sato, T. Tsuda, S. Fukao and
S. Kato
PAGEOPH, Vol. 130, Nos. 2/3 (1989) 0033-4553/89/030149-D2$1.50 + 0.20/0
© 1989 Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel
Introduction
Our knowledge of the stratosphere and mesosphere has progressed dramatically
in the past fifteen years. The intense effort aimed at understanding the structure,
dynamics and chemistry of the region has been motivated primarily by the need to
understand the complex interplay of processes which control the distribution of
atmospheric ozone and to provide assessments of the impact on ozone of strato-
spheric pollutants. On the organizational level the Middle Atmosphere Program
(MAP) has encouraged a more coherent effort, particularly for the observational
component. The MAP subprograms GRATMAP (Gravity Waves and Turbulencej
MAP) and MASH (Middle Atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere) were the
subjects ofworkshops held consecutively at the University of Adelaide in May 1987;
most of the papers in this special issue of PAGEOPH were presented at those
meetings. This issue thus presents an up-to-date summary of current research in
these two important aspects of the dynamics of the stratosphere and mesosphere.
This issue begins with two historical perspectives from pioneers of the study of
atmospheric gravity waves and of the circulation of the southern stratosphere. Aside
from their intrinsic interest, these papers remind us of the difficulties faced by early
workers, when observations were spar se and infrequent and the very existence of
gravity waves in the atmosphere was not widely acknowledged.
The large-scale circulation of the northern stratosphere is now reasonably weIl
documented. The Southern Hemisphere, however, has received much less attention,
partly because of the poorer observational base and partly because interest in this
region has been intrinsically weaker (though the Antarctic ozone depletion has
recently changed all that). On large scales the ground-based observational network
in northern mid-Iatitudes is sufficiently den se that satellite radiances can be used to
build up geopotential analyses (from which winds may be estimated via geostrophic
or other assumptions) with a fair degree of confidence. This is not the situation in
the Southern Hemisphere and so an important part of the research effort there must
be aimed at understanding the possibilities and limitations inherent in the available
data. This is all the more important if one is to try to use the data to derive
quantities such as potential vorticities or wave fluxes which may be very sensitive to
data quality. The extent to which such calculations are reliable for the southern
stratosphere is discussed in three papers here. Despite such issues, we are now
beginning to understand better the southern stratosphere and to recognise that there
are substantial differences between the two hemispheres. Differences in the structure
of the two hemispheres, in planetary wave activity and ozone are addressed. Quite
apart from the intrinsic importance of increasing our knowledge of this half of the
150 Introduction PAGEOPH,
stratosphere, these differences provide us with new evidence, interpretation of which
can materially help to advance our understanding of stratospheric dynamics in
general.
It is now weil established that smaller-scale motions-in particular gravity waves
and turbulence-are of fundamental importance in the general circulation of the
mesosphere; they seem to be similarly, if less spectacularly, significant in the
troposphere, and probably also in the stratosphere. Our understanding of these
motions, their effects on the mean circulation and their mutual interactions is
progressing rapidly, as is weil illustrated by the papers in this issue; there are reports
of observational studies, especially with new instruments such as the Japanese MV
radar, reviews of the state of theory, a laboratory study and an analysis of gravity
waves and their effects in the high resolution "SKYHI" general circulation model.
There are good reasons to suspect that gravity waves may be of crucial significance
in making the stratospheric circulation the way it is (modeling experience being one
suggestive piece of evidence for this). Direct observational proof has thus far been
prevented by the difficulty of making observations of such scales of motion in this
region; in one study reported here, falling sphere observations are used to obtain
information on the structure and intensity of waves in the upper stratosphere.
Finally, we note that publication of this issue is the end product of efforts by a
large numberof colleagues. We particularly wish to acknowledge the efforts of
David Fritts and Alan O'Neill, the convenors respectively of the GRATMAP and
MASH workshops; we also thank all the contributors and reviewers for helping to
bring the issue together.
R. Alan Plumb RobertA. Vincent
M.I.T. Vniversity of Adelaide
Cambridge, MA 02139 Adelaide, Australia
V.S.A.
June 1988
PAGEOPH, Vol. 130, Nos. 2/3 (1989) 0033--4553/89/030151-20$1.50 + 0.20/0
© 1989 Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel
Earlier Days of Gravity Waves Revisited
COLIN O. HINES
Abstract-The means whereby the author came to be involved in the study of atmospheric gravity
waves, and then came to involve others in that study, are outlined. In particular, events leading up to,
during and following the International Symposium on Fluid Mechanics in the Ionosphere, of July 1959,
are described.
Key words: Atmospheric dynamies, atmospheric waves, gravity waves, upper atmosphere, history of
atmospheric science.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity accorded me to recall in public "the early
days of atmospheric gravity waves". However, as I responded at time I received the
invitation, I can give only my own recollections of what was a very personal
involvement, for I have never researched the full history. And I can do even that
only for the earlier days of gravity waves, since I was not involved in the earliest
days nor do I believe that the early days are yet past. Those caveats now in place,
I give warning to expect that this indulgence in nostalgia will contain an introduc-
tory or warming-up phase, a major climax that can be dated as midmorning on
Monday, July 13, 1959, and aftermaths ofimmediate and longer term. Let me begin
at what was, for me, the beginning.
I first became aware of atmospheric gravity waves through a paper by DAVID
MARTYN (1950) that I read in the spring of 1952 in Cambridge, England, some six
or eight months after arriving there to pursue doctoral research.
That was the Cambridge of Hermann Bondi, Tom Gold and Fred Hoyle, with
their exhilarating and widely promulgated cosmological theory of continuous
creation; the Cambridge of the graduate students Francis Crick and James Watson,
as yet unknown to the world at large or even to much of the university community,
with their nascent unraveling of the double helix; the Cambridge, in radio studies,
of Martin Ryle (with Tony Hewish, then also a graduate student) and his
interferometric response to the massive Jodrell Bank radio telescope, and of
Jack Ratcliffe (known to all as JAR) and his ionospheric group-one of the
I Arecibo Observatory, Arecibo, PR 00613-0995, U.S.A.
152 c. O. Hines PAGEOPH,
most productive ever assembled-which included Basil Briggs, Ken Budden, Phil
Clemmow and Kenneth Weekes on staff, Sid Bowhill, Owen Storey, David
Whitehead and many more as students, and visitors such as Jules Fejer, then from
South Africa, passing through.
I was loosely associated with this last group throughout my two doctoral years,
having made my arrangements for supervision in Cambridge by way of Ratcliffe at
the instigation and as a requirement of my prospective financial sponsor, the
Defence Research Board (DRB) of Canada. (Prior to its proposal of sponsorship,
I had been accepted for research in fundamental physcis with R.E. Peierls, in
Birmingham.) These initial arrangements with Ratcliffe had been superseded by
others, however, the financial sponsorship having foundered on terms I found
unacceptable and I having discovered that Ratcliffe expected his graduate students
to be in their places "by nine in the morning". With the concurrence of my new
financial sponsor-my tolerant and hard-working wife, Bernice-I turned to certain
studies in fundamental electromagnetics I wished to pursue. This was done under
the newly arranged, formal supervision of Bondi, whose department, Mathematics,
had no office space for staff or students and so had no place in particular for me to
be at nine in the morning (or at any other time, for that matter).
My first avenue of study, pursued with Bondi's indulgence and despite his
skepticism, involved Ritz's ballistic theory of electromagnetism and relativity. It
proved to be a dead end. Next on my agenda had been the proper derivation of
Maxwell's (macroscopic) equations from Lorentz's (microscopic) equations of
electromagnetism-a topic on which I turned out to be scooped by a year when I
eventually completed it, alm ost twenty years later. (This derivation is now em-
ployed, for example, in the text by JACKSON (1975).) Also bypassed at this time and
consigned ultimately to limbo-for quite different reasons-was my proper explana-
tion for the absence of the Lorentz polarization term from magneto-ionic theory.
Unnerved and demoralized by the outcome of my Ritzian work, and beginning
to feel the temporal pinch imposed by the financial pinch, I turned to the
generalization of Alfven's recently introduced theory of hydromagnetic waves-a
generalization (to ionized gases from collision-dominated conducting fluids) that I
had begun before reaching Cambridge, and one whose value as thesis material was
certain, even if somewhat debased from fundamental electromagnetism.
Because of its origins in magneto-ionic theory and its possible application to
ionospheric processes, the hydromagnetic work brought me into closer contact with
Ratcliffe's group once again. Much of the effort of that group was directed toward
the observation and interpretation of moving irregularities in the ionosphere, the
cause of the irregularities being unknown and the movement itself being termed a
"drift" in order to avoid prejudgment of its actual nature as a wind, a wave, or
whatever. The observations were all made with radio waves reflected by the
ionosphere, and so pertained to its underside. Similar observations, attributed to