Atmosphere Ocean Science Colloquium

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Atmospheric gravity waves: new observations, high-resolution simulations, and data-informed methods

Speaker: Aditi Sheshadri, Stanford

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 1302

Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2025, 3:30 p.m.

Synopsis:

Atmospheric gravity waves are ubiquitous multiscale oscillations generated by flow over orography, moist convection, geostrophic imbalance, etc. They dynamically couple the different layers of the atmosphere, play a role in setting the position and strength of the tropospheric jet streams, and play a leading-order role in the stratosphere and mesosphere. However, much of the gravity wave spectrum cannot be resolved in a typical climate model, and observational constraints on their activity are also scarce. I will present recent work aiming to improve both our understanding of the effects of gravity waves on climate variability and their representation in global climate models.