Studies of Gravity Waves and Contributions to SCOSTEP

Marvin Geller has made many outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences and to international science programs. This presentation concentrates on two aspects of his career. The first part highlights gravity wave studies made by Marvin and his colleagues. Gravity waves efficiently transfer energy and momentum between the lower and upper atmosphere. Understanding the spatial and temporal variability of wave fluxes is important for improving climate models. A significant resource exploited by Marvin's groups is radiosonde data, which meteorological agencies started to archive at high-vertical resolution in the early1990s. These data provide a unique and inexpensive resource that provides information on gravity wave propagation and fluxes. Marvin was a driving force to ensure that as much of these data were made available to the broader community through the WMO/SPARC (Stratospheric Processes and their Relation to Climate) database. Here we review the extensive contributions he has made by exploiting the large US dataset to investigate the variability of gravity wave energies and fluxes across the continental USA and Pacific and place them in context with other gravity wave studies in the lower and middle atmosphere.

From an international perspective, Marvin was instrumental in linking stratospheric processes to climate science through the establishment of SPARC. The focus in this presentation, however, is on his many contributions to the programs promoted by SCOSTEP (Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics), an interdisciplinary body of the International Council on Science (ICSU). This includes leadership in SCOSTEP programs such as the Middle Atmosphere Program of the 1980s, the STEP energy program of the 1990s. A very important contribution was Marvin's 8-year term as President of SCOSTEP. During his tenure, SCOSTEP launched the Climate and Weather in the Sun-Earth System (CAWSES) I and II programs that were designed to make end-to-end studies of solar-terrestrial interactions.