Thermospheric Wind Observations Obtained From the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar
Class
Article
Department
Physics
Faculty Mentor
Michael Taylor
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
Atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) are known to play an important role in atmospheric circulation via momentum deposition in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region (~80-110 km). Over the past decade, modeling and observational studies have revealed the importance of AGWs propagating into the thermospheric region (~110-400 km) as they contribute significantly to changes in both winds and temperatures. Various techniques have been developed to observe and extract AGW characteristics such as vertical and horizontal wavelengths, phase speeds, periods, and directions of propagation. Incoherent scatter radars (ISR) provide one technique to observe AGW in the thermospheric region. Using recently developed methods, we have extracted AGW characteristics from the Poker Flat ISR (PFSIR) located at Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska (65 N), from August 2011 - April 2013. From the AGW characteristics and recently developed dispersion relation, we have extracted the neutral wind in the direction of wave propagation for each wave event. Here we present initial thermospheric winds over central Alaska and compare them to the 2007 Horizontal Wind Model.
Start Date
4-9-2015 12:00 PM
Thermospheric Wind Observations Obtained From the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar
Atmospheric gravity waves (AGW) are known to play an important role in atmospheric circulation via momentum deposition in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region (~80-110 km). Over the past decade, modeling and observational studies have revealed the importance of AGWs propagating into the thermospheric region (~110-400 km) as they contribute significantly to changes in both winds and temperatures. Various techniques have been developed to observe and extract AGW characteristics such as vertical and horizontal wavelengths, phase speeds, periods, and directions of propagation. Incoherent scatter radars (ISR) provide one technique to observe AGW in the thermospheric region. Using recently developed methods, we have extracted AGW characteristics from the Poker Flat ISR (PFSIR) located at Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska (65 N), from August 2011 - April 2013. From the AGW characteristics and recently developed dispersion relation, we have extracted the neutral wind in the direction of wave propagation for each wave event. Here we present initial thermospheric winds over central Alaska and compare them to the 2007 Horizontal Wind Model.