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Investigating the Horizontal Characteristics of Short-Period Gravity Waves Over Bear Lake Observatory, Utah

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

5-20-2024

Abstract

An airglow imaging technique was applied for investigating the horizontal characteristics of short period (< 20 min) gravity waves with characteristic horizontal wavelengths < 40 km and horizontal phase speeds up to ~70 m/s from mid-latitude Bear Lake Observatory (41.9°N, 111.4°W). Measurements were made over a 12 month period in 2002. The gravity waves observed in the OH airglow layer (altitude ~ 87 km) are typically classified into two distinct categories "bands" and "ripples" according to their differing horizontal scales (bands >15 km). The origin of the band type waves is thought to be gravity waves propagation from the lower atmosphere up to the mesospheric OH airglow layer (Taylor et al., 1997), but the ripple type waves are considered to be generated in-situ through shear instability (Taylor and Hapgood, 1990), or through convective instability (Fritts et al., 1993; Hecht et al., 1997).

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