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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.


Papers
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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1987
TL;DR: In this paper, a brief survey of advances made during the last three years in understanding gravity wave saturation as well as their effects and variability in the lower and middle atmosphere is presented.
Abstract: This paper will present a brief survey of some of the advances made during the last three years in understanding gravity wave saturation as well as their effects and variability in the lower and middle atmosphere. Our emphasis will be on observational results, though theoretical and modeling studies will be discussed where relevant. We will first present recent evidence of the processes contributing to wave saturation. We will also examine the implications of wave saturation and local turbulence production for wave fluxes of energy and momentum, the turbulent diffusion of heat and constituents, and a saturated spectrum of gravity waves throughout the atmosphere. Finally, some of the recent evidence of geographic and temporal variability of the gravity wave field and of the processes that may contribute to this variability will be reviewed.

2 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors calculate the volume backscatter coefficient from the BOLIDE photon count data and balloon floating altitude to detect polar mesospheric clouds during a balloon flight of PMC Turbo in July 2018.
Abstract: Abstract. The Balloon Lidar Experiment (BOLIDE) observed polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) along the Arctic circle between Sweden and Canada during the balloon flight of PMC Turbo in July 2018. The purpose of the mission was to study small-scale dynamical processes induced by the breaking of atmospheric gravity waves by high-resolution imaging and profiling of the PMC layer. The primary parameter of the lidar soundings is the time- and range-resolved volume backscatter coefficient β. These data are available at high resolutions of 20 m and 10 s (Kaifler, 2021, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5722385). This document describes how we calculate β from the BOLIDE photon count data and balloon floating altitude. We compile information relevant for the scientific exploration of this dataset, including statistics, mean values, and temporal evolution of parameters like PMC brightness, altitude, and occurrence rate. Special emphasis is given to the stability of the gondola pointing and the effect of resolution on the signal-to-noise ratio and thus the detection threshold of PMC. PMC layers were detected during 49.7 h in total, accounting for 36.8 % of the 5.7 d flight duration and a total of 178 924 PMC profiles at 10 s resolution. Up to the present, published results from subsets of this dataset include the evolution of small-scale vortex rings, distinct Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities, and mesospheric bores. The lidar soundings reveal a wide range of responses of the PMC layer to larger-scale gravity waves and breaking gravity waves, including the accompanying instabilities, that await scientific analysis.

2 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
15 Jun 2009
TL;DR: New results from recent coupled gravity-wave-breaking simulations involving gravity waves (GWs) whose wavelengths differ by an order of magnitude are presented, suggesting interactions among large-scale GWs and fine structure due to small-scale inertia-GWs or superposed regions of decaying or fossil turbulence events are likely ubiquitous throughout the atmosphere.
Abstract: In this paper, we present new results from recent coupled gravity-wave-breaking simulations involving gravity waves (GWs) whose wavelengths differ by an order of magnitude. Several scenarios are investigated, all with waves that are individually statically stable (Ri≥0.25). Nevertheless, turbulence outbreaks are observed as the periodic motion of the larger GW induces a parametric instability in the shorter wavelength fine structure wave, and the coupling produces a massive instability response at multiple scales, yielding a layering of the potential temperature field resembling "sheet and layer" structures observed in the atmosphere and oceans. Such interactions among large-scale GWs and fine structure due to small-scale inertia-GWs or superposed regions of decaying or fossil turbulence events are likely ubiquitous throughout the atmosphere and may account for sporadic bursts of turbulence and its persistence in regions of high apparent static stability. The implications for these new results are discussed for our probabilistic turbulence forecasting methods.

2 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: To the best of our knowledge, there is only one application of mathematical modelling to face recognition as mentioned in this paper, and it is a face recognition problem that scarcely clamoured for attention before the computer age but, having surfaced, has attracted the attention of some fine minds.
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!'.

3,015 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review 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 are discussed.
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.

2,206 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
28 Jan 1983-Science
TL;DR: 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.
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.

1,356 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors 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.
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.

1,249 citations