Short-Period Mesospheric Gravity Waves and Diurnal Tidal Interactions at a Critical Layer

Details Short-Period Mesospheric Gravity Waves and Diurnal Tidal Interactions at a Critical Layer Short-Period Mesospheric Gravity Waves and Diurnal Tidal Interactions at a Critical Layer

May 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agusmsa31a..14e&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2007, abstract #SA31A-14

Physics

0342 Middle Atmosphere: Energy Deposition (3334), 3332 Mesospheric Dynamics, 3334 Middle Atmosphere Dynamics (0341, 0342), 3384 Acoustic-Gravity Waves, 3389 Tides And Planetary Waves

Scientific paper

The US Maui-MALT program is designed to investigate the properties and dynamics of the low-latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere region (MLT) in exceptional detail. On June 29, 2003, the University of Illinois Meteor Wind Radar (MWR) at Kihei, Maui (20.8°N, 156.4°W) observed a diurnal tidal wave with an amplitude twice as large as normal at mesospheric height (80--100 km) for 7 hours (1400--2100 UT). At the same time, the Utah State University Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (MTM) measured OH and O2 band emission intensities and temperatures at nearby Haleakala Crater, Maui (20.8°N, 156.2°W). The MTM observed a short-period gravity wave (GW) event propagating through this region for most of the night from 600 to 1500 UT. The GWs disappeared from the O2 band data (peak altitude: ~94 km) and the OH band data (~87 km) around 1400 UT and 1430 UT, respectively. Qualitative and quantitative investigations of relationship between the observed GW dissipations and the increasing background wind field show the following. 1. The wave dissipation observed in both emissions was caused by wave absorption at a critical layer (CL) when the background wind speed exceeded the wave phase speed. 2. The wave absorption at the CL appears to accelerate the background wind. 3. The acceleration occurred over a wide altitude range (80--100 km) because the CL was moving down in association with downward progression of the diurnal tidal wave. 4. The change in background wind speed caused by the GW absorption at the CL was comparable with the induced tidal effect.

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