The MaCWAVE program to study gravity wave influences on the polar mesosphere

• Main Authors: Goldberg, R. A., Fritts, D. C., Schmidlin, F. J., Williams, B. P., Croskey, C. L., Mitchell, J. D., Friedrich, M., Russell Iii, J. M., Blum, U., Fricke, K. H.
• Other Authors: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Colorado Research Associates Boulder (CoRA), NorthWest Research Associates (NWRA), NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), Penn State System, Graz University of Technology Graz (TU Graz), Center for Atmospheric Sciences Hampton (CAS), Hampton University, Forsvarets Forskningsinstitutt (FFI), Physikalisches Institut Bonn, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2006
• Subjects: [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Alomar; Andøya; Esrange; Norway; Orion
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00318026; https://hal.science/hal-00318026/document; https://hal.science/hal-00318026/file/angeo-24-1159-2006.pdf

International audience MaCWAVE ( M ountain a nd C onvective W aves A scending VE rtically) was a highly coordinated rocket, ground-based, and satellite program designed to address gravity wave forcing of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). The MaCWAVE program was conducted at the Norwegian Andøya Rocket Range (ARR, 69.3° N) in July 2002, and continued at the Swedish Rocket Range (Esrange, 67.9° N) during January 2003. Correlative instrumentation included the ALOMAR MF and MST radars and RMR and Na lidars, Esrange MST and meteor radars and RMR lidar, radiosondes, and TIMED ( T hermosphere I onosphere M esosphere E nergetics and D ynamics) satellite measurements of thermal structures. The data have been used to define both the mean fields and the wave field structures and turbulence generation leading to forcing of the large-scale flow. In summer, launch sequences coupled with ground-based measurements at ARR addressed the forcing of the summer mesopause environment by anticipated convective and shear generated gravity waves. These motions were measured with two 12-h rocket sequences, each involving one Terrier-Orion payload accompanied by a mix of MET rockets, all at ARR in Norway. The MET rockets were used to define the temperature and wind structure of the stratosphere and mesosphere. The Terrier-Orions were designed to measure small-scale plasma fluctuations and turbulence that might be induced by wave breaking in the mesosphere. For the summer series, three European MIDAS ( Mi ddle Atmosphere D ynamics a nd S tructure) rockets were also launched from ARR in coordination with the MaCWAVE payloads. These were designed to measure plasma and neutral turbulence within the MLT. The summer program exhibited a number of indications of significant departures of the mean wind and temperature structures from ``normal" polar summer conditions, including an unusually warm mesopause and a slowing of the formation of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) and noctilucent clouds (NLC). This was suggested to be due ...