Articles | Volume 26, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7607-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7607-2026
Research article
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29 May 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 29 May 2026

Stratospheric gravity waves in three high-resolution models and AIRS satellite observations

Phoebe Noble, Haruka Okui, Joan Alexander, Manfred Ern, Neil P. Hindley, Lars Hoffmann, Laura Holt, Annelize van Niekerk, Riwal Plougonven, Inna Polichtchouk, Claudia C. Stephan, Martina Bramberger, Milena Corcos, William Putnam, Christopher Kruse, and Corwin J. Wright

Data sets

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present Copernicus Climate Change Service: https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

AIRS/Aqua Observations of Gravity Waves Lars Hoffmann https://doi.org/10.26165/JUELICH-DATA/LQAAJA

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Editorial statement
Global atmospheric models have now become sufficiently high resolution to resolve explicitly even quite small atmospheric gravity waves. These waves transport energy and momentum from the lower to the middle/upper atmosphere, and play a fundamental role in driving large-scale atmospheric circulation. This paper compares three high-resolution models (horizontal resolution less than 5 km) with observations made by the AIRS satellite. Although there are significant areas of agreement, models continue to underestimate amplitudes and overestimate gravity wave occurrence. In particular, there is major room for improvement in the modelling of convective gravity waves.
Short summary
Gravity waves are small-scale processes that drive the circulation in the middle and upper atmosphere. In this work, we assess 3 new high-resolution (3-5km horizontal resolution) models against satellite data. Generally, models capture the spatial patterns and represent stratospheric northern hemisphere mountain generated waves well. However, they still underestimate amplitudes globally and struggle with the representation of southern hemispheric convective waves.
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