A decadal satellite record of gravity wave activity in the lower stratosphere to study polar stratospheric cloud formation

Hoffmann, Lars; Spang, Reinhold; Orr, Andrew; Alexander, M. Joan; Holt, Laura A.; Stein, Olaf

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2901-2017

Articles | Volume 17, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2901-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Quadrennial Ozone Symposium 2016 – Status and trends...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2901-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 4

Research article

|

24 Feb 2017

Research article |

| 24 Feb 2017

A decadal satellite record of gravity wave activity in the lower stratosphere to study polar stratospheric cloud formation

Lars Hoffmann, Reinhold Spang, Andrew Orr, M. Joan Alexander, Laura A. Holt, and Olaf Stein

Data sets

AIRS Science Team and M. Chahine AIRS/Aqua L1B Infrared (IR) geolocated and calibrated radiances V005, version 005 https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/uui/datasets/AIRIBRAD_005/summary

The ERAInterim reanalysis: Configuration and performance of the data assimilation system D. P. Dee, S. M. Uppala, A. J. Simmons, et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828

2-minute Gridded Global Relief Data (ETOPO2) v2 National Geophysical Data Center https://doi.org/10.7289/V5J1012Q

Short summary

We introduce a 10-year record (2003–2012) of AIRS/Aqua observations of gravity waves in the polar lower stratosphere. The data set was optimized to study the impact of gravity waves on the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs). We discuss the temporal and spatial patterns of gravity wave activity, validate explicitly resolved small-scale temperature fluctuations in the ECMWF data, and present a survey of gravity-wave-induced PSC formation events using joint AIRS and MIPAS observations.