Mesospheric Dynamics and Temperature Variance Studies Using Satellite and Ground-Based Instruments

The Leonardo Event Center

The Mesospheric Temperature Mapper located at Cerro Pachon, Chile (30.3 S, 70.7 W) has measured the mesospheric OH rotational temperature for over 5 years (2009-2015). The data, so far, show great day-to-day variability and begin to build a climatology of the mesosphere over the Andes. Increased temperature variance, an indication of increased gravity wave activity, during winter months is observed by both the ground-based imager and the space-based instrument SABER. SABER atmospheric temperature profiles are detrended to reveal small-scale gravity wave perturbations and this technique shows increased temperature variance during winter months as well as in other seasons. This technique has great potential for future case studies with other imager data sets. Gravity wave parameters of 400+ events from McMurdo Base, Antarctica are highlighted exhibiting a large spread of phase speeds, and anisotropic wave direction due to localized weather systems perhaps associated with the polar vortex.