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Global estimates of equatorial inertia‐gravity wave activity in the stratosphere inferred from ERA40 reanalysis
Author(s) -
Le Sommer J.,
Teitelbaum H.,
Zeitlin V.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl024873
Subject(s) - stratosphere , gravitational wave , gravity wave , kelvin wave , forcing (mathematics) , geophysics , wave drag , quasi biennial oscillation , amplitude , inertia , equatorial waves , physics , atmospheric sciences , oscillation (cell signaling) , geology , climatology , drag , geodesy , mechanics , latitude , classical mechanics , equator , drag coefficient , astrophysics , genetics , quantum mechanics , biology
A new methodology is applied to ERA40 reanalysis in order to quantify large‐scale inertia‐gravity wave activity in the equatorial lower stratosphere. Both eastward and westward propagating waves are identified in the data set and a good agreement is found with previously published in situ observations. Global estimates of vertical fluxes of zonal momentum associated with such waves are obtained. Typical amplitudes of order 10 −2 m 2 . s −2 suggest that the forcing of the Quasi‐Biennial Oscillation by large‐scale inertia‐gravity waves is tantamount to that by Kelvin waves. This method can be used to document the space‐time variability of the wave‐activity in order to improve the wave‐drag parameterizations in climate models.