Aircraft spies gravity waves being sucked into Antarctica’s polar vortex | Science | AAAS

Aircraft spies gravity waves being sucked into Antarctica’s polar vortex | Science | AAAS

Antarctic polar vortex sucks in gravity waves Researchers on a customized Gulfstream jet have seen just how ‘gravity waves’, which churn the air above the Southern Ocean, arise from a surprisingly distant source. Atmospheric physicists observed how the nascent waves are born on the high mountains of the southern Andes and the Antarctic Peninsula before being drawn to the powerful Antarctic polar vortex. It’s the first experimental proof showing how the waves weaken the vortex and warm the Antarctic. Gravity waves (not gravitational waves) arise when layers of a fluid with different densities — for example, ocean water of different salinities or air at different temperatures — bob up and down with respect to each other. Science | 6 min read