High-Latitude Gravity Wave Measurements in Noctilucent Clouds and Polar Mesospheric Clouds

2011 ◽  
pp. 93-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Taylor ◽  
P.-D. Pautet ◽  
Y. Zhao ◽  
C.E. Randall ◽  
J. Lumpe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Noctilucent Clouds ◽  
Polar Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Wave Measurements ◽  
Mesospheric Clouds

scholarly journals Universal power law of the gravity wave manifestation in the AIM CIPS polar mesospheric cloud images

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 883-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pingping Rong ◽  
Jia Yue ◽  
James M. Russell III ◽  
David E. Siskind ◽  
Cora E. Randall
Keyword(s):  
Normal Distribution ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Polar Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Universal Power Law ◽  
Wave Morphology ◽  
Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Morlet Wavelet Transform ◽  
Universal Law ◽  
Impact Sample

Abstract. We aim to extract a universal law that governs the gravity wave manifestation in polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). Gravity wave morphology and the clarity level of display vary throughout the wave population manifested by the PMC albedo data. Higher clarity refers to more distinct exhibition of the features, which often correspond to larger variances and a better-organized nature. A gravity wave tracking algorithm based on the continuous Morlet wavelet transform is applied to the PMC albedo data at 83 km altitude taken by the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS) instrument to obtain a large ensemble of the gravity wave detections. The horizontal wavelengths in the range of  ∼ 20–60 km are the focus of the study. It shows that the albedo (wave) power statistically increases as the background gets brighter. We resample the wave detections to conform to a normal distribution to examine the wave morphology and display clarity beyond the cloud brightness impact. Sample cases are selected at the two tails and the peak of the normal distribution to represent the full set of wave detections. For these cases the albedo power spectra follow exponential decay toward smaller scales. The high-albedo-power category has the most rapid decay (i.e., exponent  =  −3.2) and corresponds to the most distinct wave display. The wave display becomes increasingly blurrier for the medium- and low-power categories, which hold the monotonically decreasing spectral exponents of −2.9 and −2.5, respectively. The majority of waves are straight waves whose clarity levels can collapse between the different brightness levels, but in the brighter background the wave signatures seem to exhibit mildly turbulent-like behavior.

scholarly journals The role of inertial instability in cross-hemispheric coupling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Lieberman ◽  
J. France ◽  
D. A. Ortland ◽  
S. D. Eckermann
Keyword(s):  
High Latitude ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Polar Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Winter Temperatures ◽  
Inertial Instability ◽  
Summer Hemisphere ◽  
Steep Decline ◽  
Strong Amplitude ◽  
Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
First Time

AbstractRecent studies suggest linkages between anomalously warm temperatures in the winter stratosphere, and the high-latitude summer mesopause. The summer temperature anomaly is manifested in the decline of polar mesospheric clouds. The two-day wave is a strong-amplitude and transient summer feature that interacts with the background state so as to warm the high-latitude summer mesopause. This wave has been linked to a low-latitude phenomenon called inertial instability, that is organized by breaking planetary waves in the winter stratosphere. Hence, inertial instability has been identified as a possible nexus between the disturbed winter stratosphere, and summer mesopause warming. We investigate a sustained occurrence of inertial instability during July 19-August 8, 2014. During this period, stratospheric winter temperatures warmed by about 10 K, while a steep decline in polar mesospheric clouds was reported between July 26–August 6. We present, for the first time, wave driving associated with observed inertial instability. The effect of inertial instability is to export eastward momentum from the winter hemisphere across the equator into the summer hemisphere. Using a primitive equation model, we demonstrate that the wave stresses destabilize the stratopause summer easterly jet. The reconfigured wind profile excites the wavenumber 4 component of the two-day wave, leading to enhanced warming of the summer mesopause. This work supports previous numerical investigations that identified planetary wave-driven inertial instability as a source of the two-day wave.

Middle ultraviolet imager observations of the distribution of polar mesospheric clouds

2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 1703-1708 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.F. Carbary ◽  
D. Morrison ◽  
G.J. Romick ◽  
L.J. Paxton ◽  
C.-I. Meng
Keyword(s):  
Polar Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Mesospheric Clouds

scholarly journals A new Description of Probability Density Distributions of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Berger ◽  
Gerd Baumgarten ◽  
Jens Fiedler ◽  
Franz-Josef Lübken
Keyword(s):  
Probability Density ◽  
Mass Density ◽  
Particle Radius ◽  
Number Density ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Statistical Probability ◽  
Polar Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Density Distributions ◽  
Mesospheric Clouds ◽  
Probability Density Distributions

Abstract. In this paper we present a new description about statistical probability density distributions (pdfs) of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC) and noctilucent clouds (NLC). The analysis is based on observations of maximum backscatter, ice mass density, ice particle radius, and number density of ice particles measured by the ALOMAR RMR-lidar for all NLC seasons from 2002 to 2016. From this data set we derive a new class of pdfs that describe the statistics of PMC/NLC events which is different from previously statistical methods using the approach of an exponential distribution commonly named g-distribution. The new analysis describes successfully the probability statistic of ALOMAR lidar data. It turns out that the former g-function description is a special case of our new approach. In general the new statistical function can be applied to many kinds of different PMC parameters, e.g. maximum backscatter, integrated backscatter, ice mass density, ice water content, ice particle radius, ice particle number density or albedo measured by satellites. As a main advantage the new method allows to connect different observational PMC distributions of lidar, and satellite data, and also to compare with distributions from ice model studies. In particular, the statistical distributions of different ice parameters can be compared with each other on the basis of a common assessment that facilitate, for example, trend analysis of PMC/NLC.

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