Why Wave Clouds?

• Advantages for research:

• Airflow smooth, mostly horizontal (z ~ 0.5 km)

• Narrow temperature range along parcel trajectory (T ~ 3°C)

• Often a series of wave clouds  effects of cloud processing

• Quasi steady-state. Lifetime: Cloud ~ hours Cloud parcels ~ few hundred seconds

• Simple relation between the Lagrangian and Eulerian frames of reference - very useful for analysis and modeling:

• parcel time = aircraft time * (TAS + Wind)/Wind