A mesoscale gravity-wave event observed during CCOPE. Part IV: stability analysis and Doppler-derived wave vertical structure

Abstract

This paper summarizes the results of a detailed study from the Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment (CCOPE) of the vertical structure of mesoscale gravity waves that disturbed a sizable part of the troposphere and that played a significant role in the generation of a mesoscale convective complex. These bimodal waves displayed periods of 148 (50) min, wavelengths of 135 (60) km, and phase speeds of 15.2 (19.8) m s-2. A comparison is made between wave-induced pressure perturbation fields derived from triple-Doppler wind fields within regions of essentially nonconvective precipitation, pressure perturbation fields obtained by bandpass filtering of surface mesonetwork data, and the vertical structure of the pressure eigenfunctions as predicted from a linear stability analysis. -from Authors