Waveguidability of idealized midlatitude jets  and the limitations of ray tracing theory

Wirth, Volkmar

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-111-2020

Articles | Volume 1, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-111-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-111-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 1, issue 1

Research article

|

02 Apr 2020

Research article |

| 02 Apr 2020

Waveguidability of idealized midlatitude jets and the limitations of ray tracing theory

Volkmar Wirth

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Final revised paper (published on 02 Apr 2020)
Preprint (discussion started on 17 Jan 2020)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Waveguideability - review', Olivia Romppainen-Martius, 05 Feb 2020
RC2: 'Review of Waveguidability paper', Tim Woollings, 17 Feb 2020
AC1: 'Reply to both reviewers', Volkmar Wirth, 04 Mar 2020

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Volkmar Wirth on behalf of the Authors (04 Mar 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (18 Mar 2020) by Juerg Schmidli

AR by Volkmar Wirth on behalf of the Authors (27 Mar 2020) Manuscript

Short summary

This paper investigates the waveguidability of midlatitude jets, i.e., their ability to duct Rossby waves in the zonal direction. Waveguidability is quantified in the framework of an idealized numerical model and compared with the predictions from two complementary theoretical concepts. It is found that the concept of ray tracing, which has been used extensively in the past, does not provide a satisfactory explanation for the numerical results. Further analysis uncovers the underlying reasons.