Observations of gravity wave breakdown into ripples associated with dynamical instabilities

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dc.contributor.authorLi, Feng
dc.contributor.authorLiu, Alan Z.
dc.contributor.authorSwenson, Gary R.
dc.contributor.authorHecht, James H.
dc.contributor.authorRobinson, Walter A.
dc.date.accessioned2023-01-30T19:43:46Z
dc.date.available2023-01-30T19:43:46Z
dc.date.issued2005-03-30
dc.description.abstractThe breakdown of a high-frequency quasi-monochromatic gravity wave into small-scale ripples in OH airglow was observed on the night of 28 October 2003 at Maui, Hawaii (20.7°N, 156.3°W). The ripples lasted ∼20 min. The phase fronts of the ripples were parallel to the phase fronts of the breaking wave. The mechanism for the ripple generation is investigated using simultaneous wind and temperature measurements made by a sodium (Na) lidar. The observations suggest that the wave breaking and the subsequent appearance of ripples were related to dynamical (or Kelvin-Helmholtz) instabilities. The characteristics of the ripples, including the alignment of the phase fronts with respect to the wind shear, the motion of the ripples, and the horizontal separation of the ripple fronts were consistent with their attribution to Kelvin-Helmholtz billows. It is likely that the dynamical instability was initiated by the superposition of the background wind shear and the shear induced by the wave. The wind shear, the mean wind acceleration, and the propagation of the breaking wave were found to be in the same direction, suggesting that wave-mean flow interactions contributed significantly to the generation of the strong (>40 m/s/km) wind shear and instability.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipFL, AZL, and GRS acknowledge support from NSF grants ATM-00-03198 in support of the Maui MALT lidar, ATM-00-03180 in support of Maui MALT airglow imager, and NASA NAG 5-13593 in support of SOR observations at Albuquerque, NM, and now Socorro, NM. JHH was supported by NSF grant ATM-0122772 and under The Aerospace Corporation's Mission Oriented Investigation and Experimentation program, funded by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center under contract FA8802-04-C-0001. WR is supported by NSF grant ATM-00-02724. Special appreciations extended to the USAF and Boeing personnel at Maui for support of lidar telescope operations, to University of Illinois Research Scientist Xinzhao Chu, and to graduate students Chirantan Mukhopodyay and Jeff Bruggemann for lidar operations and maintenance. The authors want to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions.en_US
dc.description.urihttps://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2004JD004849en_US
dc.format.extent12 pagesen_US
dc.genrejournal articlesen_US
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2cbir-ixkc
dc.identifier.citationLi, F., A. Z. Liu, G. R. Swenson, J. H. Hecht, and W. A. Robinson (2005), Observations of gravity wave breakdown intoripples associated with dynamical instabilities,J. Geophys. Res.,110, D09S11, doi:10.1029/2004JD004849.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD004849
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/26744
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherAGUen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC GESTAR II Collection
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.en_US
dc.rightsPublic Domain Mark 1.0*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/*
dc.titleObservations of gravity wave breakdown into ripples associated with dynamical instabilitiesen_US
dc.typeTexten_US
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7928-0775en_US

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