A team of atmospheric scientists today began airborne operations from Des Moines, Iowa, as part of the Convective Gravity Waves in the Stratosphere (CGWaveS) project, which will run through June 17. CGWaveS is scheduled for 10 to 12 flights lasting up to eight hours each, beginning at sundown.
Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the campaign will use an NSF/NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) Gulfstream V to observe atmospheric gravity waves. These waves are atmospheric disturbances generated by deep convection that affect both weather and climate systems. The research team includes scientists from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School and GATS.
Flights will use Rayleigh and sodium resonance lidars to measure temperature and wind from 15 to 60 kilometers’ altitude. Radiosondes and Nexrad data will assist in identifying suitable convective targets. Flight plans may include east-west, north-south, or box patterns around storm systems to document wave generation and dissipation.
“These waves are essential to how energy moves through the atmosphere,” said David Nolan, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami and principal investigator. “Understanding them will improve long-range weather prediction and climate models.”