Mesospheric Gravity Waves
#GS1 #Geography #Cyclone
News : Mesospheric gravity waves observed over Bay of Bengal during movement ofCyclone Ampan. Mesospheric gravity waves are part of Atmospheric gravity waves.
About Atmospheric waves :
- Atmospheric gravity waves are a type of buoyancy wave that, on breaking or becoming unsteady, deposit their energy and momentum into the mean atmospheric flow driving atmospheric circulation.
- These waves are ubiquitous in the atmosphere. They are caused by sources mainly in the lower atmosphere; for example, storms, wind flow over mountains, and perturbations in the Polar Vortex.
- They are an important dynamical means of coupling throughout the atmosphere.
- Global climate models do not accurately capture these waves.
- This can result in modelled temperatures being too cold, and wind speeds too fast in the Polar Regions.
- Although observations of these waves are needed to constrain their modelled representation, in the Polar Regions there is a paucity of observations, especially of the short-horizontal wavelength waves that have been shown to carry the most momentum.
