Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway
We present observations obtained with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) to investigate short-period wave-like features using polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) as a tracer for the neutral dynamics. We conducted a multibeam experiment including 67 different beam directions durin...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/6721/2018/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:acp64848 2023-05-15T13:25:18+02:00 Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway Stober, Gunter Sommer, Svenja Schult, Carsten Latteck, Ralph Chau, Jorge L. 2018-09-20 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/6721/2018/ eng eng doi:10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/6721/2018/ eISSN: 1680-7324 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 2019-12-24T09:50:18Z We present observations obtained with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) to investigate short-period wave-like features using polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) as a tracer for the neutral dynamics. We conducted a multibeam experiment including 67 different beam directions during a 9-day campaign in June 2013. We identified two Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) events from the signal morphology of PMSE. The MAARSY observations are complemented by collocated meteor radar wind data to determine the mesoscale gravity wave activity and the vertical structure of the wind field above the PMSE. The KHIs occurred in a strong shear flow with Richardson numbers Ri < 0.25. In addition, we observed 15 wave-like events in our MAARSY multibeam observations applying a sophisticated decomposition of the radial velocity measurements using volume velocity processing. We retrieved the horizontal wavelength, intrinsic frequency, propagation direction, and phase speed from the horizontally resolved wind variability for 15 events. These events showed horizontal wavelengths between 20 and 40 km, vertical wavelengths between 5 and 10 km, and rather high intrinsic phase speeds between 45 and 85 m s −1 with intrinsic periods of 5–10 min. Text Andenes Northern Norway Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Norway Alomar ENVELOPE(-67.083,-67.083,-68.133,-68.133) Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 18 9 6721 6732 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
We present observations obtained with the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) to investigate short-period wave-like features using polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) as a tracer for the neutral dynamics. We conducted a multibeam experiment including 67 different beam directions during a 9-day campaign in June 2013. We identified two Kelvin–Helmholtz instability (KHI) events from the signal morphology of PMSE. The MAARSY observations are complemented by collocated meteor radar wind data to determine the mesoscale gravity wave activity and the vertical structure of the wind field above the PMSE. The KHIs occurred in a strong shear flow with Richardson numbers Ri < 0.25. In addition, we observed 15 wave-like events in our MAARSY multibeam observations applying a sophisticated decomposition of the radial velocity measurements using volume velocity processing. We retrieved the horizontal wavelength, intrinsic frequency, propagation direction, and phase speed from the horizontally resolved wind variability for 15 events. These events showed horizontal wavelengths between 20 and 40 km, vertical wavelengths between 5 and 10 km, and rather high intrinsic phase speeds between 45 and 85 m s −1 with intrinsic periods of 5–10 min. |
format |
Text |
author |
Stober, Gunter Sommer, Svenja Schult, Carsten Latteck, Ralph Chau, Jorge L. |
spellingShingle |
Stober, Gunter Sommer, Svenja Schult, Carsten Latteck, Ralph Chau, Jorge L. Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway |
author_facet |
Stober, Gunter Sommer, Svenja Schult, Carsten Latteck, Ralph Chau, Jorge L. |
author_sort |
Stober, Gunter |
title |
Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway |
title_short |
Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway |
title_full |
Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway |
title_fullStr |
Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Observation of Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above Andenes in Northern Norway |
title_sort |
observation of kelvin–helmholtz instabilities and gravity waves in the summer mesopause above andenes in northern norway |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/6721/2018/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.083,-67.083,-68.133,-68.133) |
geographic |
Norway Alomar |
geographic_facet |
Norway Alomar |
genre |
Andenes Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Andenes Northern Norway |
op_source |
eISSN: 1680-7324 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/6721/2018/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6721-2018 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
6721 |
op_container_end_page |
6732 |
_version_ |
1766384564357300224 |