All Physics Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

22

Issue

20

Publisher

American Geophysical Union

Publication Date

10-1995

First Page

2837

Last Page

2840

Abstract

An all‐sky CCD imager has been used to measure the properties of short period gravity waves present over the Hawaiian Islands during the ALOHA‐93 campaign. Observations of emissions from four different altitudes provided a capability to describe the vertical as well as the horizontal structure of the wave field. On several occasions during this campaign an unusual morphology wave pattern was detected that consisted of a group of small‐scale waves oriented in the same direction. These were most noticeable in the OI (557.7 nm) emission, altitude ∼96 km, and were usually observed in association with a larger scale gravity wave. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of data recorded on the night of 22 October during which both types of waves were prominent. The small‐scale waves exhibited highly coherent phase structures at each emission altitude, consistent with a ducted wave motion. The spatial intensity and phase modulation of this display is indicative of interference between two waves with similar characteristics and slightly different propagation directions. The larger scale wave motion was observed to propagate perpendicular to the small‐scale waves, and showed evidence of phase progression with altitude, implying upward energy propagation. These data have been interpreted in the context of simultaneous wind measurements from an MF radar.

Comments

Published by the American Geophysical Union in Geophysical Research Letters: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/1995/95GL02945.shtml

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