Vertical evolution of potential energy density and vertical
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TitleVertical evolution of potential energy density and vertical wave number spectrum of Antarctic gravity waves from 35 to 105 km at McMurdo (77.8°S, 166.7°E)AbstractWe report the first characterization of potential energy densities and vertical wave number spectra of Antarctic gravity waves (GWs) from 35 to 105 km, derived from Fe lidar temperature measurements at McMurdo (77.8°S, 166.7°E) in 2011-2013 winters. For GWs with periods of 2-10 h, the potential energy density per unit volume (Epv) decreases by 2 orders of magnitude from 35 to 105 km, while that per unit mass (Epm) increases from several to hundreds of J/kg. Epm increases with a mean scale height of ~ 10.4 km in the Rayleigh region (35-65 km) and of ~ 13.2 km in the Fe region (81-105 km), and of particular interest is the inferred severe dissipation in between (65-81 km). Overall, the vertical evolutions of Epv and Epm indicate considerable wave energy loss from the stratosphere to the lower thermosphere. The vertical wave number spectra exhibit power law forms for vertical wavelengths lambda z less than ~10 km. The mean spectral slope in the spectral range of 2-10 km is about -2.55 and -2.26 in the Rayleigh and Fe regions with standard deviations of 0.36 and 0.38, respectively. Large variations in the power spectral densities (PSDs) are seen for lambda z greater than 10 km in 35-60 km. PSDs increase by 1 order of magnitude from the stratosphere to the lower thermosphere. Using higher temporal resolution data to include 0.5-2 h waves increase Epm by ~ 25-45% and increase PSDs of 2-5 km waves by a factor of 2 and of greater than 10 km waves by less than 50%.AcknowledgementsWe are grateful to Chester S. Gardner and David Fritts for valuable discussion on the gravity wave saturation theories, and Anne Smith and Rolando Garcia for helpful discussion on gravity wave potential energy densities. We acknowledge the staff of United States Antarctic Program, McMurdo Station, Antarctica, New Zealand, and ScottBase for their superb support. We offers pecial thanks to Vladimir Papitashviliof the National Science Foundation and Ed Butler of the Antarctica New Zealand for their encouragement and help in this collaborative research. We thank Wentao Huang, John Smith, Zhangjun Wang, Jian Zhao, and Julie Pala is for their contributions and support to the McMurdo lidar campaign.This project was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) grants ANT-0839091, PLR-12464 05, and AGS-1343106 (CEDAR). The data producing the results of this paper can be requested by communicating with the corresponding authors.Funding DetailsAGS-1343106, NSF, National Science Foundation; ANT-0839091, NSF, National Science Foundation; PLR-1246405, NSF, National Science Foundation
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1st AuthorLu, X.AuthorLu, X.Chu, X.Fong, W.Chen, C.Yu, Z.Roberts, B.McDonald, A.Year2015JournalJournal of Geophysical Research AtmospheresVolume120Number7Pages2719-2737DOI10.1002/2014JD022751URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....97e6845a3ff35130d62d6eb2dKeywordsgravity wavelidarpotential energypower lawremote sensingspectrumthermosphere, Antarctica, rank5Author KeywordsAntarctic gravity waveslidar remote sensingobservational filteringwave dissipation and saturationwave number spectrumwave potential energy density
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TypeArticleCitationLu, X., Chu, X., Fong, W., Chen, C., Yu, Z., Roberts, B. and McDonald, A. (2015). Vertical evolution of potential energy density and vertical wave number spectrum of Antarctic gravity waves from 35 to 105 km at McMurdo ({77.8$\,^{\circ}$S, 166.7$\,^{\circ}$E}). Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, 120(7): 2719-2737 IdentifierLu2015Relevancerank5
McDonald, A., Vertical evolution of potential energy density and vertical , [Lu2015]. Antarctica NZ, accessed 02/08/2026, https://adam.antarcticanz.govt.nz/nodes/view/63622, 10.1002/2014JD022751