The quasi 2 day wave activities during 2007 austral summer period as revealed by Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model

The quasi 2 day wave (QTDW) observed during 2007 austral summer period is well reproduced in an reanalysis produced by the data assimilation version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM + Data Assimilation Research Testbed) developed at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). It is found that the QTDW peaked 3 times from January to February but with different zonal wave numbers. Diagnostic analysis shows that the mean flow instabilities, refractive index, and critical layers of QTDWs are fundamental for their propagation and amplification, and thus, the temporal variations of the background wind are responsible for the different wave number structures at different times. The westward propagating wave number 2 mode (W2) grew and maximized in the first half of January, when the mean flow instabilities related to the summer easterly jet were enclosed by the critical layers of the westward propagating wave number 3 (W3) and wave number 4 (W4) modes. This prevented W3 and W4 from approaching and extracting energy from the unstable region. The W2 decayed rapidly thereafter due to the recession of critical layer and thus the lack of additional amplification by the mean flow instability. The W3 peaked in late January, when the instabilities were still encircled by the critical layer of W4. The attenuation of W3 afterward was also due to the disappearance of critical layer and thus the lack of overreflection. Finally, the W4 peaked in late February when both the instability and critical layer were appropriate. Key Points The quasi 2 day wave activities are well reproduced by WACCM The W2, W3, and W4 modes peak at different time The zonal wind is essential for the wave number selection of QTDW