All Physics Faculty Publications

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

Volume

127

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

Publication Date

4-4-2015

Journal Article Version

Accepted Manuscript

First Page

8

Last Page

20

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Abstract

The NASA Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite is the first spaceborne mission dedicated to studying high-altitude (~83 km) Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs). Since its launch in 2007, the Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS) instrument onboard AIM has obtained large-field, high resolution (25 km2/pixel) images of the PMCs, enabling a unique investigation of mesospheric gravity wave activity in the summer polar mesosphere where previous measurements have been sparse. In this study, we have analyzed 12 consecutive seasons of AIM/CIPS PMC albedo data to determine the statistical properties of medium and large horizontal scale ( > 100 km) gravity waves present in the PMC data. Over 60,000 wave events with horizontal scale-sizes ranging up to > 2000 km have been identified and measured, revealing a wealth of wave events particularly in the 300–800 km range where our analysis sensitivity is largest. These data are ideal for investigating the intra-seasonal, inter-annual and hemispheric variability of these waves as observed over the whole summer polar cap regions. Throughout this 6 year study, the wave activity in the southern hemisphere was found to be consistently 10–15% higher than in the northern hemisphere and both the northern and southern hemisphere wave activity was determined to decrease systematically (by ~ 15%) during the course of each summer season. This decrease agrees well with previous seasonal stratospheric studies of variations in the wave energy, suggesting a direct influence of the lower atmospheric sources on polar mesospheric dynamics. Very similar and consistent results were also found from season to season in both hemispheres providing new information for gravity wave modeling and dynamical studies of the high-latitude summer-time mesosphere.

Comments

The AIM satellite mission was developed as part of the NASA Small Explorer Program under contract NAS5-03132. The gravity wave research presented herein was supported as part of this mission through a subcontract from Hampton University to Utah State University # 05-17.

Download

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS