New paper highlights effects of dynamical processes on the Kelvin wave

2 December 2025

Photo: KHolube

Kelvin waves (KWs), which belong to the most important circulation patterns in the tropical atmosphere, are traditionally understood as being excited by convective processes. Recent research suggests that they can also be influenced by dynamical processes such as the momentum transport from the subtropics. A new study led by Katharina Holube compares the various processes involved in the energy budget of KWs in reanalysis data and finds that the meridional advection of zonal momentum is the dominant energy source for both stationary and transient KWs.

The DFG-funded research (grants 461186383 and 274762653) is published open-access in the Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems (JAMES).

Holube, K. M., Lunkeit, F., Vasylkevych, S., & Žagar, N. (2025). Effects of dynamical and diabatic processes on stationary and transient Kelvin waves. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17, e2025MS005225. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025MS00522