SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT

The 22nd Conference on Middle Atmosphere is organized by the AMS Committee on Middle Atmosphere and hosted by the American Meteorological Society. It will be held 24-28 June 2024 at the Hilton Burlington Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT & online.

Papers are solicited on the following:

• Atmospheric Impacts of the Hunga Tonga 2022 eruption
  • The Hunga Tonga (HTHH) volcanic eruption in January 2022 was the most explosive volcanic eruption in the past 30 years, injecting on the order of 150 Tg of water vapor into the stratosphere and a modest amount of stratospheric aerosol. . This session welcomes observational and modeling studies of HTHH atmospheric and climate impacts. 
• The role of the stratosphere in S2S prediction
  • The stratosphere is a key source of predictability of surface climate on sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales. This session focuses on studies linking stratospheric processes to the predictability of tropospheric weather and climate. We welcome studies that evaluate stratosphere-troposphere coupling processes in S2S prediction systems, as well as studies that link model biases to prediction skill. We also consider presentations that discuss novel model experiments to better isolate the role of the stratosphere on the predictability of surface climate and extremes.
• Stratospheric Aerosols 
  • This session invites studies addressing upper tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols and interactions with chemistry, dynamics and climate. Of particular interest are 1) studies examining upper troposphere/lower stratosphere aerosols using measurements from recent field campaigns, and 2) studies on chemical and dynamical perturbations on the upper troposphere and stratosphere due to episodic events such as large pyro-cumulonimbus events and volcanic eruptions that reach the stratosphere and 3) perturbations caused by the space flight industry and 4) stratospheric aerosol-ozone-climate interactions associated with geo-engineering schemes. Observational and modeling studies ranging from local to global spatial scales and seasonal to centennial time scales as well as laboratory studies are all welcome.
• Gravity waves in the middle atmosphere: observations, modeling and theory 
  • Gravity waves have long been known as a critical driver of the general circulation of the middle and upper atmosphere through their ability to transport significant energy and momentum upwards from multiple tropospheric sources. Their role in modulating temperature, wind patterns, and chemical composition has a profound impact on climate, weather, and the overall behavior of the middle atmosphere. Despite their importance, understanding the sources, propagation, and dissipation effects of these waves from theory and observations and implementing this into global models has been a major challenge in recent decades. 

    In this session, we welcome abstracts on new developments (both physics- and machine-learning-based)  in gravity wave science from observations, modeling, and theory, including coupling to surface weather below and space weather in the ionosphere and thermosphere above. In all these areas, we strongly encourage and highlight validation studies that seek to compare observed gravity waves and their associated impacts in the middle atmosphere with predictions from relevant theories, models, or parameterization schemes.

• Transport, Mixing and Composition Changes in the Upper Troposphere and Stratosphere 
  • Large-scale atmospheric transport and mixing play a key role in shaping the global distributions of chemical species and their responses to future climate change. In particular, transport and mixing of mass and chemical species (e.g., water vapor, ozone, aerosols) in the upper troposphere and stratosphere have important implications for stratospheric ozone chemistry, the general atmospheric circulation, and surface climate. This session will highlight recent advances in our understanding of transport, mixing and associated composition changes within the upper troposphere and stratosphere on a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, tackling problems spanning past, present, and future climate. Modeling, theoretical, and observational studies are all encouraged. 
• Long-term Reanalysis Observational Dataset and Future Observational Needs 
  • Reanalyses are widely used to study atmospheric processes and as observationally-based benchmarks for model validation. Meanwhile, in addition to their many independent applications, long-term observational datasets provide both essential inputs for assimilation in climate reanalyses and valuable constraints for evaluating reanalysis products. The first phase of the SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP, https://s-rip.github.io/) coordinated a wide-ranging intercomparison to identify differences between reanalyses and their underlying causes, provide guidance on the appropriate use of reanalyses in scientific studies, and improve reanalysis products through collaborations with reanalysis centers and data users. As part of the nascent S-RIP Phase 2 (S-RIP2) activity, recently-released and forthcoming reanalyses (e.g., ERA5, JRA-3Q) will be comprehensively evaluated within the context of the previous Phase 1 assessments. Phase 2 will also have new foci including stratosphere-troposphere coupling and exchange, extreme weather events and their links to the stratosphere, evaluation of chemical reanalyses, and analyses in support of model-reanalysis intercomparison activities (e.g., CCMI-2022, CMIP7, WMO GAFIS). 

    This session welcomes studies of the planning, development, evaluation, and intercomparison of meteorological and chemical reanalyses. We also solicit presentations describing advances in long-term data records formed from directly merging multiple space-borne and/or ground-based observations, using these datasets to advance our understanding of the middle atmosphere, and addressing future observational needs in support of reanalyses and climate data records. This session serves as an open invitation to the community to participate in the S-RIP2 activity.

• Climate Variability and Projection in the Middle Atmosphere 
  • Climate variability across a range of timescales affects the predictability of weather patterns and assessment of forced climate trends. Understanding the response of large-scale circulation patterns to sources of interannual variability such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), or those at lower frequencies as decadal variations in the ocean, requires disentangling multiple possible atmospheric teleconnection pathways. Observed data records are generally too short to quantify the relative importance of different pathways, while the underlying mechanisms can be complex and their representation in models compromised by model biases.

    This session welcomes studies investigating climate variability in the middle atmospheric dynamics and compositions, especially the contributions that analyze tropical-extratropical teleconnections and related aspects of large-scale circulation variability. Studies of stratospheric polar vortex variability and its coupling to surface climate in both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres are encouraged. We welcome contributions applying novel and diverse analysis methods to observational and reanalysis datasets, and to comprehensive or idealized GCM simulations under both present-day and future conditions.

• Modeling and Theory of the Middle Atmosphere (Joint with AOFD) 
  • Fluid dynamics manifests itself in a distinct way in the stratosphere and mesosphere due to their unique basic states, resulting in several intriguing features that only exists in the middle atmosphere, such as the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO), Stratospheric Sudden Warming (SSW), Semi-Annual Oscillation(SAO) and the Brewer-Dobson circulation. We welcome recent advances in the theoretical understanding of the middle atmosphere dynamics. Efforts of simulating middle atmospheric features in idealized models as well as in comprehensive models are especially encouraged.  
• Waves and Circulation: connections across scales (Joint with AOFD) 
  • Interaction between waves and circulations is a fundamental aspect of the atmospheric and oceanic fluid dynamics. Examples of such interactions are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and ocean, from the tropics to the pole, and occurring on both weather and climate scales. This session welcomes recent advances on this topic from theoretic, observational and modeling aspects.

Please submit abstracts electronically via the Web no later than 29 February 2024. A fee of $120.00 (payable by credit card or purchase order) is charged at the time of submission of each abstract (refundable only if abstract is not accepted).  

Authors of accepted presentations will be notified via e-mail by mid-April 2024. Instructions for formatting extended abstracts are posted on the AMS website. All abstracts, extended abstracts, and presentations (including the recordings of those who grant permission) are available on the AMS website.

For additional information regarding the meeting, please contact the program chairs: Rei Ueyama ([email protected]), Pu Lin ([email protected]), Laura Holt ([email protected]), Yaowei Li ([email protected]) and Martina Bramberger ([email protected])