Coupling of Gravity Waves and Convection, and Their Impacts on the Dynamics and Predictability of Multiscale Processes Associated with Moist Baroclinic JetFront Systems

This study seeks to study the coupling of gravity waves and moist convection, focused on impacts to the dynamics and predictability of multi-scale processes associated with moist baroclinic jetfront systems through high-resolution observational analysis and ensemble simulations. This research will advance our understanding of the relative roles of gravity waves and moist convection regarding severe and extreme weather at middle latitudes, and potentially improve the predictability of tropical systems.

Major objectives of this research include: (1) the characterization of the global distribution, source, structure, propagation and amplitude of tropospheric and stratospheric gravity waves, along with their energy and momentum fluxes, using analyses and forecasts from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models; (2) understand the potential impacts of gravity waves and convection on atmospheric energy spectra slopes at the mesoscales and examine the resolvability of gravity waves in NWP models with 1-100 km grid spacing; and (3) to explore the impacts of gravity waves and their interaction with moist convection on the multi-scale atmospheric predictability.