David C. Fritts

Bio: David C. Fritts is an academic researcher from Cora. The author has contributed to research in topics: Gravity wave & Thermosphere. The author has an hindex of 66, co-authored 227 publications receiving 14924 citations. Previous affiliations of David C. Fritts include University of Colorado Boulder & National Waste & Recycling Association.

Determination of horizontal and vertical structure of an unusual pattern of short period gravity waves imaged during ALOHA-93

Abstract: An all-sky CCD imager has been used to measure the properties of short period gravity waves present over the Hawaiian Islands during the ALOHA-93 campaign. Observations of emissions from four different altitudes provided a capability to describe the vertical as well as the horizontal structure of the wave field. On several occasions during this campaign an unusual morphology wave pattern was detected that consisted of a group of small-scale waves oriented in the same direction. These were most noticeable in the OI (557.7 nm) emission, altitude ∼96 km, and were usually observed in association with a larger scale gravity wave. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of data recorded on the night of 22 October during which both types of waves were prominent. The small-scale waves exhibited highly coherent phase structures at each emission altitude, consistent with a ducted wave motion. The spatial intensity and phase modulation of this display is indicative of interference between two waves with similar characteristics and slightly different propagation directions. The larger scale wave motion was observed to propagate perpendicular to the small-scale waves, and showed evidence of phase progression with altitude, implying upward energy propagation. These data have been interpreted in the context of simultaneous wind measurements from an MF radar.

Two‐day wave structure and mean flow interactions observed by radar and High Resolution Doppler Imager

Abstract: Data obtained with four MF and meteor radars at equatorial and subtropical sites and with the High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI) instrument aboard the UARS satellite were used to examine the structure, wave-mean flow interactions, and potential sources of the 2-day wave in the middle atmosphere during three southern hemisphere summers. The three wave events were highly transient, having typical durations of 20 to 30 days and exhibiting modulation at shorter periods. Temporal variations were found to exhibit good correlations between radar and HRDI data. Radar and HRDI data were used to estimate those components of the Eliassen-Palm flux that could be assessed with these data. Meridional fluxes of momentum and heat were computed using HRDI data and agree reasonably with the momentum fluxes computed from radar data at discrete locations. These fluxes were found to exhibit consistent latitudinal structures each year, suggesting systematic wave excitation and wave-mean flow interactions. Meridional momentum flux gradients were seen to be anticorrelated with zonal wind accelerations in a manner consistent with wave forcing of the large-scale circulation. The apparent wave-mean flow interactions suggest that the 2-day wave could be a transient response to baroclinic instability of the summer hemisphere mesospheric jet. A calculation of the meridional gradient of quasi-geostrophic potential vorticity using HRDI winds and the COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA 1986) temperatures exhibits a region of instability in the lower and middle mesosphere extending into subtropical latitudes and provides additional evidence of a possible source of this motion via baroclinic instability of the summer hemisphere jet structure.

Influences of source conditions on mountain wave penetration into the stratosphere and mesosphere

Abstract: We present atmospheric gravity wave (GW) measurements obtained by a Rayleigh/Raman lidar at Lauder, New Zealand (45∘ S, 170∘ E) during and after the DEEPWAVE campaign. GW activity and characteristics are derived from 557 hours of high-resolution lidar data recorded between June and November 2014 in an altitude range between 28 and 76 km. In this period, strong GW activity occurred in sporadic intervals lasting a few days. Enhanced stratospheric GW potential energy density is detected during periods with high tropospheric wind speeds perpendicular to New Zealand's Southern Alps. These enhancements are associated with the occurrence of quasi-stationary GW (mountain waves). Surprisingly, the largest response in the mesosphere is observed for conditions with low to moderate lower tropospheric wind speeds (2–12 m/s). On the other hand, large-amplitude mountain waves excited by strong tropospheric forcings often do not reach mesospheric altitudes, either due to wave breaking and dissipation in the stratosphere or refraction away from New Zealand.

Analysis of Ducted Motions in the Stable Nocturnal Boundary Layer during CASES-99

Abstract: Data obtained with multiple instruments at the main site of the 1999 Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study (CASES-99) are employed to examine the character and variability of wave motions occurring in the stable nocturnal boundary layer during the night of 14 October 1999. The predominant motions are surprisingly similar in character throughout the night, exhibiting largely westward propagation, horizontal wavelengths of ∼1 to 10 km, phase speeds slightly greater than the mean wind in the direction of propagation, and highly coherent vertical motions with no apparent phase progression with altitude. Additionally, vertical and horizontal velocities are in approximate quadrature and the largest amplitudes occur at elevated altitudes of maximum stratification. These motions are interpreted as ducted gravity waves that propagate along maxima of stratification and mean wind and that are evanescent above, and occasionally below, the altitudes at which they are ducted. Modal structures for ducte...

Linear and nonlinear waves, by G. B. Whitham. Pp.636. £50. 1999. ISBN 0 471 35942 4 (Wiley).

Abstract: to be done in this area. Face recognition is a problem that scarcely clamoured for attention before the computer age but, having surfaced, has involved a wide range of techniques and has attracted the attention of some fine minds (David Mumford was a Fields Medallist in 1974). This singular application of mathematical modelling to a messy applied problem of obvious utility and importance but with no unique solution is a pretty one to share with students: perhaps, returning to the source of our opening quotation, we may invert Duncan's earlier observation, 'There is an art to find the mind's construction in the face!'.

Gravity wave dynamics and effects in the middle atmosphere

Abstract: [1] Atmospheric gravity waves have been a subject of intense research activity in recent years because of their myriad effects and their major contributions to atmospheric circulation, structure, and variability. Apart from occasionally strong lower-atmospheric effects, the major wave influences occur in the middle atmosphere, between ∼ 10 and 110 km altitudes because of decreasing density and increasing wave amplitudes with altitude. Theoretical, numerical, and observational studies have advanced our understanding of gravity waves on many fronts since the review by Fritts [1984a]; the present review will focus on these more recent contributions. Progress includes a better appreciation of gravity wave sources and characteristics, the evolution of the gravity wave spectrum with altitude and with variations of wind and stability, the character and implications of observed climatologies, and the wave interaction and instability processes that constrain wave amplitudes and spectral shape. Recent studies have also expanded dramatically our understanding of gravity wave influences on the large-scale circulation and the thermal and constituent structures of the middle atmosphere. These advances have led to a number of parameterizations of gravity wave effects which are enabling ever more realistic descriptions of gravity wave forcing in large-scale models. There remain, nevertheless, a number of areas in which further progress is needed in refining our understanding of and our ability to describe and predict gravity wave influences in the middle atmosphere. Our view of these unknowns and needs is also offered.

Geophysical fluid dynamics.

Abstract: The potential for sea ice-albedo feedback to give rise to nonlinear climate change in the Arctic Ocean – defined as a nonlinear relationship between polar and global temperature change or, equivalently, a time-varying polar amplification – is explored in IPCC AR4 climate models. Five models supplying SRES A1B ensembles for the 21 st century are examined and very linear relationships are found between polar and global temperatures (indicating linear Arctic Ocean climate change), and between polar temperature and albedo (the potential source of nonlinearity). Two of the climate models have Arctic Ocean simulations that become annually sea ice-free under the stronger CO 2 increase to quadrupling forcing. Both of these runs show increases in polar amplification at polar temperatures above-5 o C and one exhibits heat budget changes that are consistent with the small ice cap instability of simple energy balance models. Both models show linear warming up to a polar temperature of-5 o C, well above the disappearance of their September ice covers at about-9 o C. Below-5 o C, surface albedo decreases smoothly as reductions move, progressively, to earlier parts of the sunlit period. Atmospheric heat transport exerts a strong cooling effect during the transition to annually ice-free conditions. Specialized experiments with atmosphere and coupled models show that the main damping mechanism for sea ice region surface temperature is reduced upward heat flux through the adjacent ice-free oceans resulting in reduced atmospheric heat transport into the region.

Observing Earth's atmosphere with radio occultation measurements using the Global Positioning System

Abstract: The implementation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) network of satellites and the development of small, high-performance instrumentation to receive GPS signals have created an opportunity for active remote sounding of the Earth's atmosphere by radio occultation at comparatively low cost. A prototype demonstration of this capability has now been provided by the GPS/MET investigation. Despite using relatively immature technology, GPS/MET has been extremely successful [Ware et al., 1996; Kursinski et al., 1996], although there is still room for improvement. The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical estimate of the spatial coverage, resolution, and accuracy that can be expected for atmospheric profiles derived from GPS occultations. We consider observational geometry, attenuation, and diffraction in defining the vertical range of the observations and their resolution. We present the first systematic, extensive error analysis of the spacecraft radio occultation technique using a combination of analytical and simulation methods to establish a baseline accuracy for retrieved profiles of refractivity, geopotential, and temperature. Typically, the vertical resolution of the observations ranges from 0.5 km in the lower troposphere to 1.4 km in the middle atmosphere. Results indicate that useful profiles of refractivity can be derived from ∼60 km altitude to the surface with the exception of regions less than 250 m in vertical extent associated with high vertical humidity gradients. Above the 250 K altitude level in the troposphere, where the effects of water are negligible, sub-Kelvin temperature accuracy is predicted up to ∼40 km depending on the phase of the solar cycle. Geopotential heights of constant pressure levels are expected to be accurate to ∼10 m or better between 10 and 20 km altitudes. Below the 250 K level, the ambiguity between water and dry atmosphere refractivity becomes significant, and temperature accuracy is degraded. Deep in the warm troposphere the contribution of water to refractivity becomes sufficiently large for the accurate retrieval of water vapor given independent temperatures from weather analyses [Kursinski et al., 1995]. The radio occultation technique possesses a unique combination of global coverage, high precision, high vertical resolution, insensitivity to atmospheric particulates, and long-term stability. We show here how these properties are well suited for several applications including numerical weather prediction and long-term monitoring of the Earth's climate.