Momentum Flux Estimates for South Georgia Island Mountain Waves in the Stratosphere Observed via Satellite

Abstract

We show high-resolution satellite observations of mountain wave events in the stratosphere above South Georgia Island in the remote southern Atlantic Ocean and compute the wave momentum fluxes for these events. The fluxes are large, and they imply important drag forces on the circulation. Small island orography is generally neglected in mountain wave parameterizations used in global climate models because limited model resolution treats the grid cell containing the island as ocean rather than land. Our results show that satellite observations can be used to quantitatively constrain mountain wave momentum fluxes, and they suggest that mountain waves from island topography may be an important missing source of drag on the atmospheric circulation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2009
Accession Number
ADA522418

Entities

People

  • Dave Broutman
  • Jun Ma
  • M. Joan Alexander
  • Stephen D. Eckermann

Organizations

  • Northwest Research Associates

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Climate Change
  • Environment
  • Geography
  • Gravity Waves
  • Grids
  • High Resolution
  • Measurement
  • Momentum
  • Mountains
  • Stratosphere
  • Three Dimensional
  • Topography
  • United States
  • Wave Propagation
  • Weather Forecasting

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Seismology

Technology Areas

  • Space