Abstract:

Atmospheric gravity waves are ubiquitous multiscale oscillations generated by flow over orography, moist convection, geostrophic imbalance, etc. They dynamically couple the different layers of the atmosphere, influence the position and strength of the tropospheric jet streams, and play a leading-order role in the stratosphere and mesosphere. However, much of the gravity wave spectrum remains unresolved in a typical climate model, and observational constraints on their activity are limited. I will discuss recent work aimed at improving our understanding of the effects of gravity waves on climate variability and enhancing their representation in global climate models.