Dynamics and impacts of gravity waves in the baroclinic jet-front systems with moist convection

This study explores the dynamics and impacts of the gravity waves generated by the tropospheric baroclinic jet-front systems with moist convection. We performed high-resolution convective-resolving simulations of idealized moist baroclinic waves with multiply-nested mesoscale models initialize with a balanced unstable baroclinic jet in a mesoscale model with modest convective instability. With the inclusion of moist convection, the background baroclinic wave intensifies faster and stronger, resulting in stronger and higher-frequency gravity waves in the jet-exit region through balanced adjustment as in the dry simulations. Moreover, there are even smaller-scale (<100km) large-amplitude gravity waves apparently generated from and/or coupled with individual convective cells and associated vigorous diabatic heating within the moist baroclinic waves. Given most strong midaltitude baroclinic waves are often associated with strong convection, the changes in gravity wave characteristics and intensity in the moist environment can have profound impacts on the momentum and energy fluxes by these waves, and subsequently their influence on the general circulation.