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Observed nocturnal gravitywave variances and zonal momentum flux in midlatitude mesopause region over Fort Collins, Colorado

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

Volume

73

Issue

4

Publication Date

3-4-2011

First Page

449

Last Page

456

Abstract

Twenty-nine nights including 275 h measurements of temperature, zonal and meridional winds, and zonal momentum flux in the mesopause region were made between September 2006 and April 2007 with the Colorado State University (CSU) sodium lidar at Fort Collins, CO (40.6N, 105W). Perturbations with periods between 6 min and 4 h in temperature and winds were calculated and compared to the recently reported observations by a similar lidar located at Starfire Optical Range (SOR), NM (35N, 107W), showing general agreement. The seasonal means of the observed zonal momentum flux of these wave perturbations were found to be 0.12±0.46 m2 s−2 for the equinoctial season and −0.69±0.42 m2 s−2 for the winter season. These results are compared to two such observations in mid-latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) in the literature, i.e., lidar observation at SOR and radar observation near Kyoto, Japan (35N, 106E). Both magnitudes and signs of the CSU lidar observations are consistent with those published.

Comments

Published by Elsevier in Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. Publisher PDF is available through link above. Publisher requires a subscription to access article.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2010.10.016

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