Abstract:
The two-day wave is observed in the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)
Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) temperature and water vapor data. During a 3-year
period (Dec.1991-Sep.1994), the wave signature is prominent semiannually after
each solstice and is comprised of a zonal wavenumber 3 component with ~2.0-day
period and a wavenumber 4 component with ~1.8-day period. Intra-annually,
the wavenumber 3 amplitude during the austral summer is nearly twice as
strong as during the boreal summer. The wavenumber 4 component however
can be equally strong in both summers. The wavenumber 3 signal tends to
be dominant during the austral summer while the wave 4 component is dominant
during the boreal summer. The derived zonal wind structure suggests that
the Charney-Stern inflection instability mechanism is responsible for
generating the two-day wave whose amplitude resides mainly on the equatorward
flank of the summer easterly jet.
In some seasons, momentum redistribution by inertial instability appears to
destabilize the easterly jet from which the barotropically unstable two-day
wave grows. In these instances, an independent study using the UARS Cryogenic
Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) temperature (Hayashi et al., 1998)
coincidently identifies "pancake" structures associated with inertial
instability. A possible connection between inertial instability and the
two-day wave has been discussed by Hitchman (1985) and Orsolini et al. (1997).
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate Model
version 2 (CCM2) mechanistic model is used to simulate this connection.
Model experiments show that, for a prescribed initial wind condition with
strong horizontal wind shear in the tropics, inertial instability can trigger
the two-day wave. An increase in easterly wind curvature fostered by inertial
instability circulation destabilizes the jet in low summer latitudes and
allows first the growth of the wavenumber 4 then the wavenumber 3 component
of the two-day wave. Near the stratopause, the two-day wave energy
propagation is directed equatorward away from the wave's critical line
source and westerly momentum is fluxed into the easterly jet core by
the wave. While much of the wavenumber 4 activity is confined near the
stratopause, the wavenumber 3 energy can propagate upward well into the
mesosphere where strong Rayleigh damping is imposed. The simulated waves'
spatial and spectral characteristics are fairly realistic.
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