Intradiurnal wind variations observed in the lower thermosphere over the South Pole

• Main Authors: Portnyagin, Y. I., Forbes, J. M., Merzlyakov, E. G., Makarov, N. A., Palo, S. E.
• Other Authors: Institute for Experimental Meteorology, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2000
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Austral; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00316648; https://hal.science/hal-00316648/document; https://hal.science/hal-00316648/file/angeo-18-547-2000.pdf

International audience The first meteor radar measurements of meridional winds in the lower thermosphere (about 95 ± 5 km), along four azimuth directions: 0°, 90°E, 180° and 90°W; approximately 2° from the geographic South Pole were made during two observational campaigns: January 19, 1995-January 26, 1996, and November 21, 1996-January 27, 1997. Herein we report analyses of the measurement results, obtained during the first campaign, which cover the whole one-year period, with particular emphasis on the transient nature and seasonal behavior of the main parameters of the intradiurnal wind oscillations. To analyze the data, two complementary methods are used: the well-known periodogram (FFT) technique and the S -transform technique. The most characteristic periods of the intradiurnal oscillations are found to be rather uniformly spread between about 7 h and 12 h. All of these oscillations are westward-propagating with zonal wave number s =1 and their usual duration is confined to several periods. During the austral winter season the oscillations with periods less than 12 h are the most intensive, while during summer season the 12-h oscillations dominate. Lamb waves and internal-gravity wave propagation, non-linear interaction of the short-period tides, excitation in situ of the short period waves may be considered as possible processes which are responsible for intradiurnal wind oscillations in the lower thermosphere over South Pole.