Comptes Rendus
Review article
Quasi-biennial oscillation: laboratory experiments
Comptes Rendus. Physique, Online first (2024), pp. 1-25.

The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is an oscillation of the wind in the equatorial stratosphere. This wind is a mean flow induced by atmospheric waves, including internal gravity waves, which explain that the period (28 month) is not linked to any astrophysical forcing. This oscillation has only been reproduced in 3 laboratory experiments, which share a similar geometry. We present the details of our experimental set-up, and we explain which improvements allowed us to obtain quantitative measurements during long times. We show experimentally the feedback of the mean flow on the waves, which is one of the key ingredient of the oscillation. The details of the analytical resolution of the 1D model of Plumb and McEwan are given. We compare experimental results to analytical and numerical results, and found a qualitative agreement. The period decreases when the forcing increases, and the amplitude of the mean flow is not monotonic with respect to height and displays two local maxima as a function of height close to the threshold. The bifurcation is always a Hopf one, but can be subcritical or supercritical depending on the dominant dissipation mechanism of the mean flow which can be tuned experimentally by changing the Brunt–Väisälä frequency. We argue that an investigation of the bifurcation in general circulation models (GCM) is of interest to better understand the evolution of the QBO due to climate change.

L’oscillation quasi-biennale (QBO) est une oscillation du vent dans la stratosphère équatoriale. Ce vent est un écoulement moyen engendré par des ondes atmosphériques, notamment des ondes internes de gravité, ce qui explique que la période (28 mois) n’est liée à aucun forçage astrophysique. Cette oscillation n’a été reproduite qu’à 3 reprises par des expériences analogues de laboratoire, et ces 3 expériences ont été réalisées dans la même géométrie. Nous présentons en détail notre dispositif expérimental, et en particulier les améliorations qui nous ont permis d’obtenir des mesures quantitatives sur de longues durées. Nous montrons expérimentalement la rétroaction du l’écoulement moyen sur les ondes, qui est l’un des ingrédients clés de la QBO. Nous donnons les détails de la résolution analytique du modèle 1D de Plumb et McEwan. Nous comparons les résultats expérimentaux à ceux obtenus analytiquement et numériquement, et nous montrons qu’ils sont en accord qualitatif. La période de l’écoulement moyen diminue lorsque le forçage augmente, et l’amplitude d’écoulement moyen en fonction de la hauteur n’est pas monotone et présente au voisinage du seuil deux maxima locaux. La bifurcation est toujours une bifurcation de Hopf, mais elle peut être sous-critique ou supercritique en fonction du mécanisme dominant de dissipation de l’écoulement moyen, qui peut être changé expérimentalement en modifiant la fréquence de Brunt-Väisälä. Nous concluons en expliquant qu’une étude de la bifurcation dans les modèles de circulation générale (GCM) serait intéressante pour mieux comprendre l’évolution de la QBO liée au changement climatique.

Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Online First:
DOI: 10.5802/crphys.195
Keywords: Fluid mechanics, internal gravity waves, wave-mean flow interaction, instability, non-linear physics
Mot clés : Mécanique des fluides, ondes internes de gravité, interaction ondes-écoulement moyen, instabilité, physique non-linéaire

Benoît Semin 1; François Pétrelis 2

1 PMMH, CNRS, ESPCI Paris, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-Cité, F-75005, Paris, France
2 LPENS, CNRS, ENS Paris, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-Cité, F-75005, Paris, France
License: CC-BY 4.0
Copyrights: The authors retain unrestricted copyrights and publishing rights
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Benoît Semin; François Pétrelis. Quasi-biennial oscillation: laboratory experiments. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Online first (2024), pp. 1-25. doi : 10.5802/crphys.195.

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