Characteristics of small‐scale gravity waves in the Arctic winter mesosphere

Observational data sets in the polar middle atmosphere are extremely valuable for understanding the polar dynamics and coupling between lower and middle atmosphere. Using the long-term data sets observed with an OH all-sky imager, a Fabry-Perot Interferometer at Resolute Bay Observatory, Canada (74.7 degrees N, 94.9 degrees W), Microwave Limb Sounder and reanalysis data, we study the characteristics of small-scale gravity waves (GWs) with the horizontal wavelength less than 20 km in the Arctic winter mesosphere during 2014-2016. Most GWs propagate nearly against the mesospheric and stratospheric winds, consistent with the wind filtering theory. A small amount (7 of 36 cases) of small-scale GWs in large regions (area >1/2 of the whole image) propagate nearly westward with slower phase speeds, larger horizontal wavelengths, and longer periods than those in limited regions. We also find that multiple GWs with different propagating directions can sometimes occur simultaneously. This is likely due to different wave sources and/or the ducted region in the atmosphere. The observed small-scale GWs may also likely be excited in the mesopause region, such as secondary wave generated by primary wave breaking or a result of baroclinic instability processed in the stratosphere and the interaction of planetary waves with the background winds. In addition, almost all of the small-scale GWs occurred during the strong El Nino and anomalous quasi-biennial oscillation events in 2015/2016 winter.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • opensky@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Library

Resource Type publication
Temporal Range Begin N/A
Temporal Range End N/A
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links N/A
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format PDF
Standardized Resource Format PDF
Asset Size N/A
Legal Constraints

Copyright 2020 American Geophysical Union.


Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email opensky@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library
Distributor N/A
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email opensky@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library

Author Li, Jing
Li, Tao
Wu, Qian
Tang, Yihuan
Wu, Zhaopeng
Cui, Jun
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2020-06-09T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
Alternate Identifier N/A
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2023-08-18T18:16:52.012187
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:23489
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Li, Jing, Li, Tao, Wu, Qian, Tang, Yihuan, Wu, Zhaopeng, Cui, Jun. (2020). Characteristics of small‐scale gravity waves in the Arctic winter mesosphere. UCAR/NCAR - Library. http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7mg7srk. Accessed 06 February 2025.

Harvest Source