Decoding the effects of gravitational waves on the atmosphere using high-resolution climate simulations

Researchers from Stanford University, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are conducting a summit at the institute’s Summit to better understand the atmospheric gravity waves that influence critical weather patterns that are difficult to predict. used a supercomputer.

First, the team conducted ultra-high resolution climate simulations at Summit using the ECMWF integrated forecast system. They then used a decomposition method to extract the momentum flux of gravity waves that transport energy from the atmospheric circulation.

“Detailed gravitational wave data is difficult to obtain from satellites, and simulating gravitational waves at kilometer-scale resolution is computationally prohibitive,” said ORNL researcher Valentine Anantaraj. “Our simulations and analyzes reveal the dynamics of gravitational waves when direct observations lack sufficient frequency and detail.”

The results, validated using reanalyzed historical weather data, provide nearly twice as much detail as previous studies. High-resolution value-added data supports training advanced machine learning models to improve predictions of extreme weather events. This research is published in the scientific journal Scientific Data.