Accession Number:
ADA439109
Title:
Remote Sensing of Gravity Wave Intensity and Temperature Signatures at Mesopause Heights Using the Nightglow Emissions
Descriptive Note:
Corporate Author:
AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB HANSCOM AFB MA SPACE VEHICLES DIRECTORATE
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
2003-01-01
Pagination or Media Count:
14.0
Abstract:
During the past four decades a variety of optical remote sensing techniques have revealed a rich spectrum of wave activity in the upper atmosphere. Many of these perturbations, with periodicites ranging from 5 min to several hours and horizontal scales of a few tens of km to several thousands km, are due to freely propagating buoyancy or acoustic-gravity waves, and forced tidal oscillations. Optical observations of the spatial and temporal characteristics of these waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere MLT region 80-100 km are facilitated by several naturally occurring, vertically distinct nightglow layers. This paper describes the use of state-of-the-art ground-based CCD imaging techniques to detect these waves in intensity and temperature. All-sky 180 image measurements from Bear Lake Observatory, Utah are used to illustrate the characteristics of small-scale, short period 1 hour waves that are most frequently observed at MLT heights including a particular set of ducted wave motions, possibly associated with mesospheric bores. These results are then contrasted with measurements of mesospheric temperature made using a separate imaging system capable of determining induced temperature amplitudes of much larger-scale wave motions and investigating night-to-night and seasonal variability in mesospheric temperature.
Descriptors:
- *MESOSPHERE
- *THERMOSPHERE
- *REMOTE DETECTORS
- *GRAVITY WAVES
- EMISSION
- MEASUREMENT
- TEMPERATURE
- STATE OF THE ART
- ACOUSTIC WAVES
- INTENSITY
- SPECTRA
- OSCILLATION
- AMPLITUDE
- GROUND BASED
- HORIZONTAL ORIENTATION
- PERTURBATIONS
- SIGNATURES
- IMAGES
- SCALE
- SEASONAL VARIATIONS
- TIDES
- BUOYANCY
- BORES
- UPPER ATMOSPHERE
- AIRGLOW
- MOTION
- OBSERVATION
- LAYERS
- OPTICAL DETECTION
- METHODOLOGY
- REPRINTS
- PROPAGATION
Subject Categories:
- Atmospheric Physics