In-sun Song
Yonsei University · Physics and Astronomy
About the Lab
Professor In-sun Song's research lab specializes in atmospheric dynamics and gravity wave physics, focusing on the generation, propagation, and impact of internal gravity waves in the atmosphere. The lab investigates gravity wave sources from deep convection, baroclinic instability, and tropical systems, with particular emphasis on spectral and parameterized modeling of gravity wave drag. Using high-resolution numerical models and reanalysis data, the lab explores wave–mean flow interactions, including effects on the quasi-biennial oscillation and large-scale circulation. Their work bridges cloud-scale processes with global atmospheric dynamics through innovative parameterization techniques.
Research Overview
Research Output Trend
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Selected Papers
15Characteristics of gravity waves induced by mesoscale convective storms and the gravity wave sources are investigated using a two-dimensional cloud-resolving numerical model. In a nonlinear moist (control) simulation, the convective system reaches a quasi-steady state after 4 h in which convective cells are periodically regenerated from a gust front updraft. In the convective storms, there are two types of wave forcing: nonlinear forcing in the form of the divergences of momentum and heat flux,
Abstract The phase-speed spectrum of momentum flux by convectively forced internal gravity waves is analytically formulated in two- and three-dimensional frameworks. For this, a three-layer atmosphere that has a constant vertical wind shear in the lowest layer, a uniform wind above, and piecewise constant buoyancy frequency in a forcing region and above is considered. The wave momentum flux at cloud top is determined by the spectral combination of a wave-filtering and resonance factor and diabat
Abstract A Lagrangian spectral parameterization of gravity wave drag (GWD) induced by cumulus convection (GWDC) is developed based on ray theory and several assumptions and implemented into the NCAR Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model. The Lagrangian parameterization calculates explicitly gravity wave (GW) propagation that has been treated too simply in existing column-based parameterizations. For comparison with column-based parameterization, a hydrostatic and Boussinesq version of the Lag
Abstract Impacts of a spectral parameterization of gravity wave drag (GWD) induced by cumulus convection (GWDC) in the NCAR Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM1b) are investigated. In the spectral GWDC parameterization, reference wave momentum flux spectrum is launched at cloud top and analytically calculated based on the physical properties of convection and the large-scale flow. The cloud-top wave momentum flux is strong mainly in the Tropics and midlatitude storm-track regions, an
Abstract. An idealized baroclinic instability case is simulated using a ∼ 10 km resolution global model to investigate the characteristics of gravity waves generated in the baroclinic life cycle. Three groups of gravity waves appear around the high-latitude surface trough at the mature stage of the baroclinic wave. They have horizontal and vertical wavelengths of 40–400 and 2.9–9.8 km, respectively, in the upper troposphere. The two-dimensional phase-velocity spectrum of the waves is arc shaped
Abstract. Equatorial Kelvin and mixed Rossby–gravity (MRG) waves in the tropical tropopause layer and stratosphere represented in recent reanalyses for the period of 1981–2010 are compared in terms of spectral characteristics, spatial structures, long-term variations, and their forcing of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). For both wave types, the spectral distributions are broadly similar among most of the reanalyses, while the peak amplitudes exhibit considerable spread. The longitudinal di
Abstract Vertically propagating low‐frequency inertia‐gravity waves (IGWs) are retrieved from meteor radar winds observed at King Sejong Station (KSS: 62.22°S, 58.78°W), Antarctica. IGW horizontal winds extracted from temporal band‐pass filtering in regular time‐height bins show the frequent occurrence of IGWs with the downward phase progression and the counterclockwise rotation of their horizontal wind vectors with time (i.e., upward energy propagation) near the mesopause region throughout the
Abstract. Effects of realistic propagation of gravity waves (GWs) on distribution of GW pseudomomentum fluxes are explored using a global ray-tracing model for the 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. Four-dimensional (4D; x–z and t) and two-dimensional (2D; z and t) results are compared for various parameterized pseudomomentum fluxes. In ray-tracing equations, refraction due to horizontal wind shear and curvature effects are found important and comparable to one another in magnitude.
Abstract Assessing space weather modeling capability is a key element in improving existing models and developing new ones. In order to track improvement of the models and investigate impacts of forcing, from the lower atmosphere below and from the magnetosphere above, on the performance of ionosphere‐thermosphere models, we expand our previous assessment for 2013 March storm event (Shim et al., 2018, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018SW002034 ). In this study, we evaluate new simulations from upgrade
Abstract. The mesospheric temperature estimation from meteor height distribution is reevaluated by using the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) and the King Sejong Station (KSS) meteor radar observations. It is found that the experimentally determined proportionality constant between the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the meteor height distribution and temperature is in remarkable agreement with theoretical value derived from the physics-based equation a
For regional weather forecasts and climate predictions, it is important to determine the optimal domain size, location, and top height. A wide model domain can be chosen to avoid noises from lateral boundaries but this can include the Tibetan Plateau and areas of northern Manchuria to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Northeast Asia. This study shows that topographic regions around the Tibetan Plateau and warm pool areas over the Manchuria in an extended model domain may have harmful effects on the acc
Abstract The characteristics of the horizontal wind in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) at King Sejong Station (KSS) in the Antarctic Peninsula are investigated using approximately 15‐year (March 2007–November 2021) meteor radar (MR) observations. The 15‐year climatology and variability of the MLT winds at KSS are analyzed for the first time, and comparisons with the observations at other Antarctic stations are performed. The short‐period oscillations (periods between 2 hr and 10 days
Abstract An iterative dynamic initialization method is presented to produce balanced initial conditions for whole atmospheric global modeling. In this method, a global hydrostatic numerical model is iteratively nudged toward ground‐to‐space wind and temperature profiles at specific date and time. Ground‐to‐space atmospheric profiles are obtained by fitting spline curves to reanalyses below the lower mesosphere and empirical model results in the upper atmosphere. An optimal nudging coefficient is
Abstract We expand the assessment study of modeling capabilities in the prediction of foF2 and hmF2 for the ionospheric climatology (Tsagouri et al., 2018, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018sw002035 ) by using updated empirical (IRI and MIT Empirical model) and physics‐based models (CTIPe, WACCM‐X, and TIE‐GCM) as well as the additional observations in the southern hemisphere. Monthly medians of foF2 and hmF2 are considered to evaluate the model performance for the entire year of 2012. For quantitativ
Research Areas
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