Parameterized orographic gravity wave drag controls extratropical stratospheric dynamics in CMIP6 models.

Orographic gravity waves (OGWs) are an important mechanism for coupling of the free atmosphere with the surface, mediating the momentum and energy transport and influencing the dynamics and circulation especially in the stratosphere and above. Current global climate models are not able to resolve a large part of the OGW spectrum and hence, OGW effects have to be parameterized in the models. Typically, the only parameterized effect is the OGW induced drag. Despite producing the same quantity as an output and relying on similar assumptions (e.g. instantaneous vertical propagation), the individual OGW parameterization schemes differ in many aspects such as handling of the orography, the inclusion of non-linear effects near the surface and the tuning of the emergent free parameters.

This presentation introduces a recently published study by the authors, reviewing 7 different parameterizations used in 9 different CMIP6 models and reporting on pronounced intermodel differences in the vertical distribution and magnitude of the parameterized OGW drag that are partly tuning-dependent. Finally, we demonstrate how the OGW drag differences project to the intermodel differences in the stratospheric dynamics, documenting the crucial importance of the lower- stratospheric OGW drag that controls the resolved wave propagation from the troposphere to the stratosphere in both winter hemispheres.