Gravity waves

[Jason Bolt]

SPC just issued a MD for E KS and parts of OK mentioning a gravity wave from EMP to C OK and that got me digging in to what a gravity wave is. I was vaguely familiar w/ the term and reading Habyhints got me a little more information. I am curious how it affects storm development. A search on here revealed speculation of gravity waves enhancing a tornado threat and even enhancing specific tornadic storms in past events. My questions:

How does one identify a gravity wave? Can it be seen on vis satellite?

How does it influence storm behavior on the microscale?

 

[rdale]

1) With barometer traces or satellite pics.

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JAS3897.1

http://www.springerlink.com/content/w31225642364q111/

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/2051

http://www.philip-lutzak.com/weather/GRAVITY%20WAVES%20-%20GOM/GRAVITY%20WAVES%20-%20GOM%20HOME.htm

2) There's still a lot of speculating on what the exact influence is. A lot of theories out there, but as to what makes one storm TOR and its neighbor not has so many variables.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/coolimg/gwavecb.htm

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/19mar_grits/

 

[Jeff Duda]

Gravity waves can be quite visible on radar, too. I've seen a number of them pass over central Iowa via KDMX. They appear as a train of inbound/outbound velocities. It's really something cool to see.

 

[Dean Baron]

DMX had a pretty interesting write-up about the role gravity waves had in the Parkersburg EF5. Somone posted the link to it here a while ago, I'll see if I can dig it up.

EDIT: Here's a link to another gravity wave thread:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19666

Another thread about the DMX assessment for 5/25/08:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19104&highlight=DMX+nws+assessment

And the actually write-up from DMX:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/dmx/ParkersburgSvcAssmntfinal.pdf

 

[Jeff Duda]

See the West Texas Mesonet's article on a gravity wave lately. It shows the gravity wave both in pictures, visible satellite, and on radar:

http://www.mesonet.ttu.edu/cases/GravityWaves_051210/20100512.html

 

[David Reimer]

Dr. Tim Coleman, a professor at UAH, is a leading researcher on the affect of gravity waves on local environments. He was featured on a WeatherBrains episode last year where he provided a great explanation of gravity waves and their impacts on storm scale rotation.

http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=17668