Neutral wind measurements over Waltair using meteor wind radar

This study presents a new method for determining a neutral wind velocity vector. The basis of the method is measurement of the group velocities of internal gravity waves. Using the case of the Boussinesq dispersion relation, we demonstrated the ability to measure a neutral wind velocity vector using the group velocity and wave vector data. An algorithm for obtaining the group velocity vector from the wave vector spectrum is proposed. The new method was tested by comparing the obtained winter wind pattern with wind data from other sources. Testing the new method showed that it is in quantitative agreement with the Fabry–Pérot interferometer wind measurements for zonal and vertical wind velocities. The differences in meridional wind velocities are also discussed here. Of particular interest were the results related to the measurement of vertical wind velocities. We demonstrated that two independent methods gave the presence of vertical wind velocities with amplitude of ~20 m/s. Estimation of vertical wind contribution to plasma drift velocity indicated the importance of vertical wind measurements and the need to take them into account in physical and empirical models of the ionosphere and thermosphere.

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Latitudinal wave coupling of the stratosphere and mesosphere during the major stratospheric warming in 2003/2004

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.5194/angeo-26-467-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 467-483 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

D. Pancheva ◽

P. Mukhtarov ◽

N. J. Mitchell ◽

B. Andonov ◽

E. Merzlyakov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Inverse Relationship ◽

Indirect Evidence ◽

Global Scale ◽

The Arctic ◽

Neutral Wind ◽

Stratospheric Warming ◽

Low Latitude ◽

Dynamical Regimes ◽

Wind Measurements ◽

Dynamical Coupling

Abstract. The coupling of the dynamical regimes in the high- and low-latitude stratosphere and mesosphere during the major SSW in the Arctic winter of 2003/2004 has been studied. The UKMO zonal wind data were used to explore the latitudinal coupling in the stratosphere, while the coupling in the mesosphere was investigated by neutral wind measurements from eleven radars situated at high, high-middle and tropical latitudes. It was found that the inverse relationship between the variability of the zonal mean flows at high- and low-latitude stratosphere related to the SSW is produced by global-scale zonally symmetric waves. Their origin and other main features have been investigated in detail. Similar latitudinal dynamical coupling has been found for the mesosphere as well. Indirect evidence for the presence of zonally symmetric waves in the mesosphere has been found.

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