Atmospheric Dynamics

We are interested in understanding how mean-flows can emerge from waves in the atmosphere, and in the resulting dynamics of the mean-flow. Examples of such phenomena include:

• The quasi-biennial oscillation. In this case, counter-propagating gravity waves emitted at the tropopause interact with the mean flow in the stratosphere to create a periodic reversal of the zonal wind. The period of this phenomenon is not directly fixed by a forcing mechanism, but emerges from the internal dynamics of the system. In fact, the dynamics of the quasi-biennial oscillation is more complex than simple periodic oscillations, and one of our goals is to understand this complexity in idealized models.

• Equatorial superrotation.