Observation of Gravity Waves from Space

PETER PREUSSE; LARS HOFFMANN; CATRIN LEHMANN; M. JOAN ALEXANDER; DAVE BROUTMAN; HYE-YEONG CHUN; ANUDUDHIA; ALBERTHERTZOG; MICHAELH¨OPFNER; YOUNG-HA KIM; WILLIAM LAHOZ; JUNMA; MANUEL PULIDO; MARTIN RIESE; HARDJINDER SEMBHI; SABINE WUST; VERENA ALISHASHI; MICHAEL BITTNER; MANFRED ERN; PIER GIUSEPPE FOGLI; SO YOUNG KIM; VERENA KOPP; MAGDALENA LUCINI; ELISA MANZINI; JOHN C. MCCONNELL; JUAN RUIZ; GUILLERMO SCHEFFLER; KIRILL SEMENIUK; VIKTORIA SOFIEVA; FRANC¸OIS VIAL

2009-06-01

2011-06-01

Espacio-Vehiculos y proyectos

This study was commissioned by ESA following selection of PREMIER by ESA?s PB-EO in February 2009 for feasibility studies (Phase A) as one of three candidate missions for Earth Explorer-7. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate that an infrared limb imager as to be used in the PREMIER mission is able to quantify gravity wave (GW) momentum flux at an accuracy sufficient to solve open scientific questions in this field. In particular, it shall be demonstrated that PREMIER can provide unprecedented information on the global momentum budget as well as on various GW processes and that comparable information cannot be obtained by any othermeasurement techniquewhich could be realized by current technology. The gravity wave study is one of several studies in support of the mission including the Consolidation of Requirements and Synergistic Retrieval Algorithms (CORSA), the ?Science Impact Study? and two airborne campaigns deploying precursor instruments on the highaltitude research aircraft Geophysika. The study was extensive in scope and organized in the following tasks 1. Literature study and definition of requirements 2. Selection of numerical models and scenarios 3. PREMIER 2D temperature retrieval 4. Tools for GWisolation and identification 5. Gravity wave ray tracing 6. Determination and assessment of GWmomentum flux 7. Scientific interpretation by ray tracing 8. Validation 9. Conclusions and recommendations To accomplish these Tasks a consortium of scientific groups was assembled to cover the required range of expertise,