Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves
Lidar measurements of noctilucent clouds (NLC) were conducted by the Davis Rayleigh-/Raman-lidar in Antarctica (68.58S, 77.97E) and by the Rayleigh-/Mie-/Raman-lidar at the ALOMAR observatory in northern Norway (69.28N, 16.01E). We compare southern and northern hemisphere NLC at time scales of 10. m...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/118933 |
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ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:118933 2023-05-15T13:49:03+02:00 Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves Kaifler, N Baumgarten, G Klekociuk, AR Alexander, SP Fiedler, J Lubken, F-J 2013 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/118933 en eng Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 Kaifler, N and Baumgarten, G and Klekociuk, AR and Alexander, SP and Fiedler, J and Lubken, F-J, Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 104 pp. 244-252. ISSN 1364-6826 (2013) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/118933 Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Dynamics Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 2019-12-13T22:18:09Z Lidar measurements of noctilucent clouds (NLC) were conducted by the Davis Rayleigh-/Raman-lidar in Antarctica (68.58S, 77.97E) and by the Rayleigh-/Mie-/Raman-lidar at the ALOMAR observatory in northern Norway (69.28N, 16.01E). We compare southern and northern hemisphere NLC at time scales of 10. min to several hours using multi-year datasets (four seasons at ALOMAR, 2008-2011, and nine seasons at Davis, 2001/2002 to 2009/2010). NLC characteristics studied include the vertical structure of NLC layers, the duration of NLC layers as well as the apparent downward motion of NLC layers with time. We find multiple layers during 9% of all NLC observations with vertical separations of double layers between 1.5 and 3. km. The mean downward progression of NLC with measurement time is -0.3. km/h and comparable at Davis and ALOMAR. We find no general spatial tilt of the layer at ALOMAR but individual layers show up to 2. km altitude difference at 40. km horizontal separation. Typical NLC observations at both stations last about 5 hours, hinting at horizontal extents of about 700. km, and reoccur after approximately 10 hours. This is in the range of mid-frequency gravity waves (GW). On short-time scales NLC characteristics are presumably impacted by small scale processes in the vicinity of the clouds, generated by e.g. breaking GW. In addition, we discuss a possible relation to GW by looking at the influence of stratospheric wind conditions on NLC layer characteristics at 69S. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Northern Norway eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Alomar ENVELOPE(-67.083,-67.083,-68.133,-68.133) Norway Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 104 244 252 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasecite |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Dynamics |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Dynamics Kaifler, N Baumgarten, G Klekociuk, AR Alexander, SP Fiedler, J Lubken, F-J Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Atmospheric Dynamics |
description |
Lidar measurements of noctilucent clouds (NLC) were conducted by the Davis Rayleigh-/Raman-lidar in Antarctica (68.58S, 77.97E) and by the Rayleigh-/Mie-/Raman-lidar at the ALOMAR observatory in northern Norway (69.28N, 16.01E). We compare southern and northern hemisphere NLC at time scales of 10. min to several hours using multi-year datasets (four seasons at ALOMAR, 2008-2011, and nine seasons at Davis, 2001/2002 to 2009/2010). NLC characteristics studied include the vertical structure of NLC layers, the duration of NLC layers as well as the apparent downward motion of NLC layers with time. We find multiple layers during 9% of all NLC observations with vertical separations of double layers between 1.5 and 3. km. The mean downward progression of NLC with measurement time is -0.3. km/h and comparable at Davis and ALOMAR. We find no general spatial tilt of the layer at ALOMAR but individual layers show up to 2. km altitude difference at 40. km horizontal separation. Typical NLC observations at both stations last about 5 hours, hinting at horizontal extents of about 700. km, and reoccur after approximately 10 hours. This is in the range of mid-frequency gravity waves (GW). On short-time scales NLC characteristics are presumably impacted by small scale processes in the vicinity of the clouds, generated by e.g. breaking GW. In addition, we discuss a possible relation to GW by looking at the influence of stratospheric wind conditions on NLC layer characteristics at 69S. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kaifler, N Baumgarten, G Klekociuk, AR Alexander, SP Fiedler, J Lubken, F-J |
author_facet |
Kaifler, N Baumgarten, G Klekociuk, AR Alexander, SP Fiedler, J Lubken, F-J |
author_sort |
Kaifler, N |
title |
Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves |
title_short |
Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves |
title_full |
Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves |
title_fullStr |
Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves |
title_full_unstemmed |
Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves |
title_sort |
small scale structures of nlc observed by lidar at 69 n/69 s and their possible relation to gravity waves |
publisher |
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/118933 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.083,-67.083,-68.133,-68.133) |
geographic |
Alomar Norway |
geographic_facet |
Alomar Norway |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Northern Norway |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Northern Norway |
op_relation |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 Kaifler, N and Baumgarten, G and Klekociuk, AR and Alexander, SP and Fiedler, J and Lubken, F-J, Small scale structures of NLC observed by lidar at 69 N/69 S and their possible relation to gravity waves, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 104 pp. 244-252. ISSN 1364-6826 (2013) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/118933 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.01.004 |
container_title |
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics |
container_volume |
104 |
container_start_page |
244 |
op_container_end_page |
252 |
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1766250715005583360 |