Case studies of nonorographic gravity waves over the Southern Ocean emphasize the role of moisture

Two case studies of nonorographic gravity waves are carried out for wave events that occurred over the Southern Ocean in November 2005. Mesoscale simulations were carried out with the Weather and Research Forecast model. The simulated waves were compared to observations from superpressure balloons of the Vorcore campaign and from the High Resolution Dynamic Limb Sounder satellite. Satisfactory agreement is found, giving confidence in the estimations of wave parameters and amplitudes. For the amplitudes, both the model and observations provide a lower bound, for different reasons. Waves are found in the lower stratosphere with horizontal wavelengths of the order of 150-200 km in the horizontal, 5-8 km in the vertical, corresponding to intrinsic frequencies between 5 and 10 f, where f is the Coriolis parameter. Although the tropospheric flow is very different between the two cases, there are features which are common and appear significant for the gravity waves:these include intense localized updrafts associated with convection in the troposphere and a displaced polar vortex inducing strong winds in the stratosphere above the frontal region. Relative to theoretical expectations, the simulations emphasize the role of moisture. Intrinsic frequencies are significantly higher than those expected for waves produced by dry spontaneous generation from jets. To quantify the contribution of moisture, dry simulations were carried out, yielding momentum fluxes over oceanic regions that were 2.5 times weaker. Identification of the generation mechanisms in these complex flows calls for further study, and these should include moisture and a realistic stratospheric jet.