thermosphere

• Main Authors: K. A. Day, N. J. Mitchell
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; Esrange; Rothera; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.604.9830; http://www.atmos-chem-phys.org/10/1461/2010/acp-10-1461-2010.pdf

Abstract. The 16-day planetary wave in the polar meso-sphere and lower thermosphere has been investigated using meteor radars at Esrange (68 ◦ N, 21 ◦ E) in the Arctic and Rothera (68 ◦ S, 68 ◦ W) in the Antarctic. The measurements span the 10-year interval from October 1999 to July 2009 and the 5-year interval February 2005 to July 2009, respec-tively. The height range covered is about 80–100 km. In both polar regions the wave is seen to occur in intermittent bursts, where wave amplitudes typically reach a maximum of about 15 m s−1, and never more than about 20 m s−1. Horizontal wind variance within a wave-period range of 12 to 20 days is used as a proxy for the activity of the 16-day wave. Wave ac-tivity is strong for 3 to 4 months in winter, where it is present across the entire height range observed and monthly wave variance reaches about 65 m2 s−2. Some weak and intermit-