The lunar tides in the Antarctic mesosphere and lower thermosphere

• Published in: Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics
• Main Authors: Sandford, D., Mitchell, N., Vincent, R., Murphy, D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd 2007
• Subjects: Antarctic; Rothera; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2440/43635; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2007.04.010

Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved. Horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over the Antarctic have been measured by a meteor radar at Rothera (67.5°S, 68.0°W) and MF radar at Davis (68.6°S, 78.0°E). Data from Rothera recorded over a 20-month interval in 2005-2006 and data from Davis recorded over the 13-year interval 1994-2006 are examined to investigate the monthly mean behaviour of the lunar semidiurnal tide. Both data sets show a clear signal of the 12.42-h lunar semidiurnal (M2) tide. The amplitude reaches values as large as 8 m s-1. The vertical wavelengths of the tide vary seasonally from ∼10 to 65 km. Comparisons of the phase of the tide measured over the two sites reveals that it does not purely consist of a migrating wavenumber 2 mode. This suggests that other, non-migrating, modes are likely to be present. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. D.J. Sandford, N.J. Mitchell, R.A. Vincent and D.J. Murphy http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/211/description#description