| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | February 4, 2022 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | February 4, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 2217461 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Shikha Raizada
sraizada@nsf.gov (703)292-8963 AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | November 1, 2021 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $440,005.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $196,453.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3100 MARINE ST Boulder CO US 80309-0001 (303)492-6221 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1234 Innovation Dr. Boulder CO US 80303-7814 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | AERONOMY |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
The polar atmosphere often exhibits unexpected and significant temperature anomalies called Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSWs) that show a downward progression. The progression of anomalies can start in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region near 80 km in altitude and go all the way down to tropospheric heights of around 30 km. Because of their downward progression, SSWs represent an important process for downward coupling between atmospheric regions. They are believed to be a product of interaction between planetary waves and the mean atmospheric flow (winds), but it has also been suggested that atmospheric disturbances originating from lower altitudes (gravity waves) play an important role in this interaction by creating the right set of conditions for downward progression (pre-conditioning). The research work will exploit the recently obtained results of data assimilation runs in combination with a number of atmospheric models. The downward coupling processes in the upper and middle atmosphere are important because of their potential impact on the stratospheric ozone and other important constituents.
The work will involve (1) analysis of characteristics of the temperature anomalies and atmospheric waves using data from satellite measurements and global atmospheric model results, (2) numerical simulations of wave propagation and comparison of the results with characteristics of the temperature anomalies, and (3) investigation of whether pre-conditioning occurs through a change in the zero-wind line height by running ensemble simulations. This work will improve the understanding of the role that atmospheric waves play in downward coupling in the polar upper atmosphere and can potentially improve the ability to model climate and space weather disturbances.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Summary: Sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) have significant impacts throughout the atmosphere, from the troposphere to the thermosphere and also on the ionosphere where they affect space weather simulations. It has been proposed that SSW signatures first appear in the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere (MLT) region and then propagate downward to the stratosphere. Previous and our preliminary studies show that gravity waves (GWs) have an important role in driving and setting up wind conditions for downward progressions of SSW signatures to occur. Main objective of this work is to investigate contributions of GWs on downward trend of temperature anomalies GWs using global-scale SABER observations and the long-term ERA5 reanalysis data. Contributions of GWs on occurrences of SSWs are quantitively analyzed using the 41 years of high-resolution ERA5 simulations [Cullens and Thurairajah, 2021] and also correlations between GW amplitudes and downward trends of temperature anomalies are studied using SABER observations [Thurairajah and Cullens, 2022]. We have published five journal papers through this funding.
Intellectual Merit: GW parameterization is one of the uncertainties in space weather and climate simulations. This work will improve our knowledge of GWs, resulting in improvements of climate and space weather modeling capability. By understanding downward coupling mechanisms, this work will advance our knowledge of the stratospheric and MLT dynamics that influence the ozone variability via the solar-atmosphere coupling.
Broader Impacts: Understanding of downward coupling from the MLT to the lower atmosphere is a great interest for our society because of its impact on the stratospheric ozone and space weather simulations. This work has broad appeal to the entire atmospheric science community. This projected supported four undergraduate students including two female undergraduate students. Research findings are presented at AGU conferences and the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) by a female undergraduate student. Therefore, this project has promoted science fields for female undergraduate students and support two female scientist (PI and Co-PI), which is a great interest to NSF and CEDAR.
Last Modified: 07/20/2023
Modified by: Chihoko Cullens
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