Gravity waves from vortex dipoles and jets

The dissertation first investigates gravity wave generation and propagation from jets within idealized vortex dipoles using a nonhydrostatic mesoscale model. Several initially balanced and localized jets induced by vortex dipoles are examined here. Within these dipoles, inertia-gravity waves with intrinsic frequencies 1-2 times the Coriolis parameter are simulated in the jet exit region. The ray tracing analysis reveals strong variation of wave characteristics along ray paths. The dependence of wave amplitude on the Rossby number is examined through experiments in which the two vortices are initially separated by a large distance but subsequently approach each other and form a vortex dipole with an associated amplifying localized jet. The amplitude of stationary gravity waves in the simulations with a 90-km grid spacing increases nearly linearly with the square of the Rossby number but significantly more rapidly when smaller grid spacing is used. To further address the source mechanism of the gravity waves within the vortex dipole, a linear numerical framework is developed based on the framework proposed by Plougonven and Zhang (2007). Using the nonlinearly balanced fields as the basic state and driven by three types of large scale forcing, the vorticity, divergence and thermodynamic forcing, this linear model is utilized to obtain linear wave responses. The wave packets in the linear responses compare reasonably well with the MM5 simulated gravity waves. It is suggested that the vorticity forcing is the leading contribution to both gravity waves in the jet exit region and the ascent/descent feature in the jet core. This linear model is also adopted to study inertia-gravity waves in the vicinity of a baroclinic jet during the life cycle of an idealized baroclinic wave. It is found that the thermodynamic forcing and the vorticity forcing are equally important to the gravity waves in the low stratosphere, but the divergence forcing is again playing a lesser role. Two groups of wave packets are present in the linear responses; their sources appear to locate either near the surface front or near the middle/upper tropospheric jet.