VHF radar observations of convectively generated gravity waves: Some new insights

Abstract

VHF radar observations of tropical mesoscale convective systems have provided some new insights on convectively generated gravity waves over Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.20°E), a tropical station in India. Present observations revealed disturbed tropopause structures and enhanced mass fluxes across the tropopause during the passage of deep convective systems. The analysis suggest that during disturbed tropopause conditions, not only the direct intrusion across the tropopause takes place but also the gravity wave activity associated with convection enhances in the lower stratosphere as compared to the stable tropopause conditions. This result is a major outcome of the present study. Another noteworthy result from the present observations is the phase profile of convectively generated gravity waves, which for the first time provided an opportunity to localize the source region of gravity waves. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.