Impact of Small-Scale Gravity Waves on Tracer Transport
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866916949432205312 |
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| author | Knop, Irmgard Dolaptchiev, Stamen Achatz, Ulrich |
| author_facet | Knop, Irmgard Dolaptchiev, Stamen Achatz, Ulrich |
| contents | Small-scale gravity waves, with horizontal wavelengths of up to a few hundred kilometers and vertical wavelengths of up to a few kilometers, play a crucial role in atmospheric tracer transport. However, their effects remain unresolved in climate models and must be parameterized. This study investigates how gravity waves influence large-scale tracer distributions, utilizing a multiple-scale analysis to systematically identify the governing terms of gravity wave-induced tracer fluxes. The analysis reveals both leading-order and next-order impacts: the former being the inertia-gravity wave-induced tracer Stokes drift, which acts perpendicular to both the large-scale tracer gradient and the wave number, while the latter becomes significant at lower latitudes where Coriolis effects diminish. A numerical framework is developed to incorporate these fluxes into a gravity wave parameterization model, potentially enhancing climate model accuracy without requiring explicit resolution of small-scale wave dynamics. Model validation against high-resolution wave-resolving simulations confirms the effectiveness of this approach. By improving the representation of gravity wave-induced tracer transport, this research advances the accuracy of climate simulations, particularly in their depiction of microphysics and radiative processes. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_01657 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Impact of Small-Scale Gravity Waves on Tracer Transport Knop, Irmgard Dolaptchiev, Stamen Achatz, Ulrich Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics Fluid Dynamics Small-scale gravity waves, with horizontal wavelengths of up to a few hundred kilometers and vertical wavelengths of up to a few kilometers, play a crucial role in atmospheric tracer transport. However, their effects remain unresolved in climate models and must be parameterized. This study investigates how gravity waves influence large-scale tracer distributions, utilizing a multiple-scale analysis to systematically identify the governing terms of gravity wave-induced tracer fluxes. The analysis reveals both leading-order and next-order impacts: the former being the inertia-gravity wave-induced tracer Stokes drift, which acts perpendicular to both the large-scale tracer gradient and the wave number, while the latter becomes significant at lower latitudes where Coriolis effects diminish. A numerical framework is developed to incorporate these fluxes into a gravity wave parameterization model, potentially enhancing climate model accuracy without requiring explicit resolution of small-scale wave dynamics. Model validation against high-resolution wave-resolving simulations confirms the effectiveness of this approach. By improving the representation of gravity wave-induced tracer transport, this research advances the accuracy of climate simulations, particularly in their depiction of microphysics and radiative processes. |
| title | Impact of Small-Scale Gravity Waves on Tracer Transport |
| topic | Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics Fluid Dynamics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.01657 |