Topological Signature of Stratospheric Poincare -- Gravity Waves

Abstract

The rotation of the earth breaks time-reversal and reflection symmetries in an opposite sense north and south of the equator, leading to a topological origin for certain atmospheric and oceanic equatorial waves. Away from the equator the rotating shallow water and stably stratified primitive equations exhibit Poincare inertio-gravity waves that have nontrivial topology as evidenced by their strict superinertial timescale and a phase singularity in frequency-wavevector space. This non-trivial topology then predicts, via the principle of bulk-interface correspondence, the existence of two equatorial waves along the equatorial interface, the Kelvin and Yanai waves. To directly test the nontrivial topology of Poincare-gravity waves in observations, we examine ERA5 reanalysis data and study cross-correlations between the wind velocity and geopotential height of the mid-latitude stratosphere at the 50 hPa height. We find the predicted vortex and anti-vortex in the relative phase of the geopotential height and velocity at the high frequencies of the waves. By contrast, lower-frequency planetary waves are found to have trivial topology also as expected from theory. These results demonstrate a new way to understand stratospheric waves, and provide a new qualitative tool for the investigation of waves in other components of the climate system.