A comparison between CRISTA satellite data and Warner and McIntyre gravity wave parameterization scheme: horizontal and vertical wavelength filtering of gravity wave momentum flux

Abstract An along-track analysis of temperature height profiles measured by the CRISTA satellite instrument was performed to obtain height profiles of absolute values of gravity wave momentum flux. Global distributions of momentum flux from CRISTA are compared to results of the Warner and McIntyre gravity wave parameterization scheme. Only a limited range of horizontal and vertical wavelengths is visible to the CRISTA instrument. Therefore the model results have to be filtered accordingly to make comparisons meaningful. We demonstrate the importance of such a wavelength filtering which significantly increases the correlation of observed and modeled momentum fluxes.