Thermospheric gravity waves in Fabry-Perot Interferometer measurements of the 630.0 nm OI line

• Main Authors: Ford, EAK, Aruliah, AL, Griffin, EM, McWhirter, I
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: EUROPEAN GEOSCIENCES UNION 2006
• Subjects: ionosphere; ionosphere-atmosphere interactions; meterology and athmospheric dynamics; thermospheric dynamics; waves and tides; ATMOSPHERE RADAR OBSERVATIONS; VERTICAL WIND ACTIVITY; NORTHERN SCANDINAVIA; SPECTRAL-ANALYSIS; TIME-SERIES; SPACED DATA; POLAR-CAP; EISCAT; DISTURBANCES; REGION; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Kiruna; Norway; Svalbard; Skibotn
• Online Access: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/8962/

Gravity waves are an important feature of mesosphere - lower thermosphere (MLT) dynamics, observed using many techniques and providing an important mechanism for energy transfer between atmospheric regions. It is known that some gravity waves may propagate through the mesopause and reach greater altitudes before eventually "breaking" and depositing energy. The generation, propagation, and breaking of upper thermospheric gravity waves have not been studied directly often. However, their ionospheric counterparts, travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs), have been extensively studied in, for example, radar data. At high latitudes, it is believed localised auroral activity may generate gravity waves in-situ. Increases in sensor efficiency of Fabry-Perot Interferometers (FPIs) located in northern Scandinavia have provided higher time resolution measurements of the auroral oval and polar cap atomic oxygen red line emission at 630.0 nm. A Lomb-Scargle analysis of this data has shown evidence of gravity wave activity with periods ranging from a few tens of minutes to several hours. Oscillations are seen in the intensity of the line as well as the temperatures and line of sight winds. Instruments are located in Sodankyla, Finland; Kiruna, Sweden; Skibotn, Norway, and Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. A case study is presented here, where a wave of 1.8 h period has a phase speed of 250 ms(-1) with a propagation angle of 302 degrees, and a horizontal wavelength of 1600 km. All the FPIs are colocated with EISCAT radars, as well as being supplemented by a range of other instrumentation. This allows the waves found in the FPI data to be put in context with the ionosphere and atmosphere system. Consequently, the source region of the gravity waves can be determined.