Observations of sub-planetary scale diurnal waves in the equatorial mesosphere and lower thermosphere

Details Observations of sub-planetary scale diurnal waves in the equatorial mesosphere and lower thermosphere Observations of sub-planetary scale diurnal waves in the equatorial mesosphere and lower thermosphere

Dec 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufmsa43a1089l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #SA43A-1089

Physics

3334 Middle Atmosphere Dynamics (0341, 0342)

Scientific paper

The power spectrum of vertically propagating waves excited by tropical heating has a strong diurnal component at planetary and inertia-gravity wave (IGW) horizontal scales. Observation-driven numerical modeling studies indicate that IGW's provide a significant source of momentum for the semiannual oscillation (SAO) in the equatorial zonal mean winds. We seek observatinal confirmation of the importance of diurnal IGW's for the SAO. We have analyzed global patterns of ascending and descending node differences in MLT tropical winds and temperatures. The difference fields are separated by 8-12 hours (depending upon the dataset), and are therefore considered diurnal proxies. Juxtaposed upon the planetary-scale features are localized longitudinal variations with zonal wavenumbers larger than 5. These "intermediate-scale" variations are vertically coherent, and can persist for several weeks. The total temperature variance of wavenumbers 9-16 is examined in relation to the underlying stratospheric mean winds. Stronger variances generally coincide with periods where the underlying zonal mean winds are either relatively weak, or unidirectional. The inverse association between variance and zoal mean wind magnitude is suggestive of a wave filtering mechanism.

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