Identification

Title

Momentum balance and gravity wave forcing in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere

Abstract

Gravity wave forcing (GWF), which is the primary driver of the mesospheric and lower thermospheric (MLT) circulation, is difficult to measure directly. In this work, the zonal mean GWF at extratropical MLT is deduced from measured winds using momentum balance. With the GWF dominating in the MLT, the zonally averaged zonal momentum equation can be simplified to a balance relation between the GWF and the Coriolis force in the extratropics. The meridional advection of zonal momentum makes a higher order contribution to the momentum balance, especially at places where the GWF maximizes. This method is tested with WACCM3 model and preliminary results are obtained from wind measurements by CSU Na lidar and TIMED/TIDI.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7736s04

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2009-04-08T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact