Crucial role of obliquely propagating gravity waves in the quasi-biennial oscillation dynamics

Kim, Young-Ha; Voelker, Georg Sebastian; Bölöni, Gergely; Zängl, Günther; Achatz, Ulrich

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3297-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3297-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3297-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 5

Research article

|

15 Mar 2024

Research article |

| 15 Mar 2024

Crucial role of obliquely propagating gravity waves in the quasi-biennial oscillation dynamics

Young-Ha Kim, Georg Sebastian Voelker, Gergely Bölöni, Günther Zängl, and Ulrich Achatz

Data sets

ERA-Interim global atmospheric reanalysis D. P. Dee, S. M. Uppala, A. J. Simmons, P. Berrisford, P. Poli, S. Kobayashi, U. Andrae, M. A. Balmaseda, G. Balsamo, P. Bauer, P. Bechtold, A. C. M. Beljaars, L. van de Berg, J. Bidlot, N. Bormann, C. Delsol, R. Dragani, M. Fuentes, A. J. Geer, L. Haimberger, S. B. Healy, H. Hersbach, E. V. Hólm, L. Isaksen, P. Kållberg, M. Köhler, M. Matricardi, A. P. McNally, B. M. Monge-Sanz, J. J. Morcrette, B. K. Park, C. Peubey, P. de Rosnay, C. Tavolato, J. N. Thépaut, and F. Vitart https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f2f5241d

Short summary

The quasi-biennial oscillation, which governs the tropical stratospheric circulation, is driven primarily by small-scale wave processes. We employ a novel method to realistically represent these wave processes in a global model, thereby revealing an aspect of the oscillation that has not been identified before. We find that the oblique propagation of waves, a process neglected by existing climate models, plays a pivotal role in the stratospheric circulation and its oscillation.