[1] The Southern Argentina Agile Meteor Radar (SAAMER) was installed at Rio Grande on Tierra del Fuego (53.8°S, 67.8°W) in May 2008 and has been operational for ∼24 months. This paper describes the motivations for the radar design and its placement at the southern tip of South America, its operating modes and capabilities, and observations of the mean winds, planetary waves, and tides during its first ∼20 months of operation. SAAMER was specifically designed to provide very high resolution of large-scale motions and hopefully enable direct measurements of the vertical momentum flux by gravity waves, which have only been possible previously with dual-or multiple-beam radars and lidars or in situ measurements. SAAMER was placed on Tierra del Fuego because it was a region devoid of similar measurements, the latitude was anticipated to provide high sensitivity to an expected large semidiurnal tide, and the region is now recognized to be a "hot spot" of small-scale gravity wave activity extending from the troposphere into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, perhaps the most dynamically active location on Earth. SAAMER was also intended to permit simultaneous enhanced meteor studies, including "head echo" and "nonspecular" measurements, which were previously possible only with high-power largeaperture radars. Initial measurements have defined the mean circulation and structure, exhibited planetary waves at various periods, and revealed large semidiurnal tide amplitudes and variability, with maximum amplitudes at higher altitudes often exceeding 60 m s −1 and amplitude modulations at periods from a few to ∼30 days.

An Advanced Mesosphere Temperature Mapper and other instruments at the Arctic LidarObservatory for Middle Atmosphere Research in Norway (69.3°N) and at Logan and Bear Lake Observatory in Utah (42°N) are used to demonstrate a new method for quantifying gravity wave (GW) pseudo-momentum fluxes accompanying spatially and temporally localized GW packets. The method improves on previous airglow techniques by employing direct characterization of the GW temperature perturbations averaged over the OH airglow layer and correlative wind and temperature measurements to define the intrinsic GW properties with high confidence. These methods are applied to two events, each of which involves superpositions of GWs having various scales and character. In each case, small-scale GWs were found to achieve transient, but very large, momentum fluxes with magnitudes varying from~60 to 940 m 2 s À2 , which are~1-2 decades larger than mean values. Quantification of the spatial and temporal variations of GW amplitudes and pseudo-momentum fluxes may also enable assessments of the total pseudo-momentum accompanying individual GW packets and of the potential for secondary GW generation that arises from GW localization. We expect that the use of this method will yield key insights into the statistical forcing of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere by GWs, the importance of infrequent large-amplitude events, and their effects on GW spectral evolution with altitude.

A new generation meteor radar was installed at the Brazilian Antarctic Comandante Ferraz Base (62.1°S) in March 2010. This paper describes the motivations for the radar location, its measurement capabilities, and comparisons of measured mean winds, tides, and gravity wave momentum fluxes from April to June of 2010 and 2011 with those by a similar radar on Tierra del Fuego (53.8°S). Motivations for the radars include the “hotspot” of small‐scale gravity wave activity extending from the troposphere into the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) centered over the Drake Passage, the maximum of the semidiurnal tide at these latitudes, and the lack of other MLT wind measurements in this latitude band. Mean winds are seen to be strongly modulated at planetary wave and longer periods and to exhibit strong coherence over the two radars at shorter time scales as well as systematic seasonal variations. The semidiurnal tide contributes most to the large‐scale winds over both radars, with maximum tidal amplitudes during May and maxima at the highest altitudes varying from ∼20 to >70 ms−1. In contrast, the diurnal tide and various planetary waves achieve maximum winds of ∼10 to 20 ms−1. Monthly mean gravity wave momentum fluxes appear to reflect the occurrence of significant sources at lower altitudes, with relatively small zonal fluxes over both radars, but with significant, and opposite, meridional momentum fluxes below ∼85 km. These suggest gravity waves propagating away from the Drake Passage at both sites, and may indicate an important source region accounting in part for this “hotspot.”

[1] Mean winds, semidiurnal and diurnal tides, and trends and long-period oscillations spanning a solar cycle (from early 1999 through June 2010) measured by medium frequency (MF) radars at conjugate Antarctic and Arctic latitudes (Syowa, Antarctica, 69°S, 39.6°E, and Andenes, Norway, 69.3°N, 16°E) are described and compared. Zonal mean winds are stronger and more uniform from year to year over the Antarctic, with a stronger eastward winter jet spanning the range of altitudes presented (70 to 96 km). The summer westward jet is also stronger and maximizes at higher altitudes over the Antarctic than over the Arctic. The eastward winter jet over the Arctic, while generally weaker, exhibits a localized maximum in late winter at ∼2 to 3 year intervals. Meridional mean winds likewise achieve somewhat stronger maxima at higher altitudes over the Antarctic than over the Arctic. Semidiurnal tide amplitudes are typically somewhat larger over the Antarctic and similar in the two components, with maxima at ∼85 km or above and narrow responses that tend to cluster from ∼February to May and ∼September to November over the Antarctic and from ∼December to February and ∼June to September over the Arctic. Zonal diurnal tide amplitudes are quite similar between the sites, with maxima extending from ∼70 to 90 km and slightly stronger over the Antarctic. Meridional diurnal amplitudes display more significant growth with altitude, achieve stronger maxima at the highest altitudes presented, and typically exhibit a single and narrow maximum during December to February over the Antarctic and double maxima from ∼May to September over the Arctic. Also discussed are trends and long-period oscillations over a solar cycle observed in these mean and tidal wind fields.

[1] The TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) on the NASA Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite has been measuring horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) since 2002. Because of the high inclination of the TIMED orbit, TIDI measures the horizontal winds from pole to pole every orbit. This paper presents the first assessment of the spatial structure and temporal evolution of the nonmigrating semidiurnal tides over the Arctic determined from the TIDI wind measurements and a comparison of the structure of the nonmigrating semidiurnal tide between the Arctic and Antarctic. The nonmigrating semidiurnal tides were determined as a 60 day average based on the yaw cycles of the spacecraft. The nonmigrating semidiurnal tidal wind field over the Arctic comprises mainly the westward-propagating zonal wave numbers 1 (W1) and 3 (W3) and standing zonal wave number 0 (S0) modes. The W1 mode is the most prominent, maximizing above 90 km poleward of 60°N during the yaw interval ranging from mid-March to mid-May. While this mode exhibits a slight amplitude increase toward the North Pole during this interval, its phase is nearly constant with latitude. The S0 mode is enhanced over two yaw intervals ranging from mid-January to mid-May, but its amplitude decreases toward the North Pole. Compared to the W1 semidiurnal tide over the Antarctic, that over the Arctic is smaller in amplitude, of less extended duration, achieves maximum amplitudes at higher altitudes by ∼10 km, and exhibits a weaker amplitude increase toward the pole. These differences likely result from differences in excitation mechanisms and efficiency and/or in propagation conditions in the two responses for the nonmigrating semidiurnal tides between the Arctic and Antarctic.

[1] Spatial structure and temporal evolution of the nonmigrating semidiurnal tidal components over Antarctica are determined by analyzing horizontal wind measurements in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) collected using TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) on the NASA Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite from 2002 to 2007. The data were organized into six specific intervals of approximately 60 days corresponding to the TIMED yaw periods. The results confirm the existence of a westward propagating zonal wave number 1 (W1) semidiurnal tidal component in the Antarctic MLT meridional wind field prior to the Austral summer solstice. This wave achieves a peak amplitude near 20 m s À1 at 90 km and is vertically stratified while extending latitudinally from the pole to 60°S. A similar structure is observed in the zonal wind field. However, the amplitude maximizes around the Austral summer solstice during the yaw period spanning 15 November to 15 January. In addition to a strong latitudinal gradient in amplitude, the W1 component also shows a vertical wavelength from 20 km near the pole to 40 km at 60°S. The amplitude and phase agree well with ground-based meteor radar observations from the South Pole. Evidence for significant though weaker standing (S0) and W3 components is also found. These components diminish in the vicinity of the pole and appear during the winter months with latitudinally restricted structures. The vertical wavelength of the S0 component during the summer is 25 km, similar to the W1 component. During the winter the wavelength of the S0 component becomes nearly evanescent.

[1] Wind measurements in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere obtained with a medium frequency (MF) radar in Hawaii (22°N, 160°W) spanning ∼16 years are employed to examine the intra-annual and interannual variability of the mean and tidal motions at altitudes between 84 and 94 km. Intra-annual periodicities range from ∼3 to 12 months, with significant coherence in altitude and between the zonal and meridional components of each motion field. Interannual variations confirm the dominant periodicities identified previously at this site and elsewhere, in particular, the significant diurnal, and less significant semidiurnal, tidal responses at periods of ∼28 and ∼48 months. Amplitudes of these long-period oscillations of the diurnal tide increase with altitude below 92 km and are larger than the amplitudes of the 12 month oscillations above ∼90 km. Phases of the ∼28 and ∼48 month oscillations show a downward progression with a slightly larger altitude variation in the meridional diurnal tide for the ∼28 month oscillation and a significantly larger altitude variation in the zonal diurnal tide for the ∼48 month oscillation. The long and nearly continuous Hawaii data set also enables characterization of the responses of the wind fields to the 11 year solar cycle. Both wind and tidal fields exhibit this periodicity, but these responses display interesting and different relations to the phase of the solar cycle. The 11 year oscillation of the meridional wind is nearly in phase with the solar cycle, while the 11 year oscillation of the zonal wind is in approximate quadrature with the solar cycle. The 11 year oscillations of the semidiurnal tidal amplitudes and the meridional diurnal amplitude are all in approximate quadrature with the solar cycle (with the tidal amplitudes leading by ∼29 to 37 months), while the 11 year oscillation of the zonal diurnal amplitude is somewhat nearer an antiphase than a quadrature relation to the solar cycle (leading by ∼54 months).

The structure, variability, and mean‐flow interactions of the quasi‐2‐day wave (Q2DW) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere during January 2015 were studied employing meteor and medium‐frequency radar winds at eight sites from 23°S to 76°S and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) temperature and geopotential height measurements from 30°S to 80°S. The event had a duration of ~20–25 days, dominant periods of ~44–52 hr, temperature amplitudes as large as ~16 K, and zonal and meridional wind amplitudes as high as ~40 and 80 m/s, respectively, at middle and lower latitudes. MLS measurements enabled definition of balance winds that agreed well with radar wind amplitudes and phases at middle latitudes where amplitudes were large and quantification of the various Q2DW modes contributing to the full wave field. The Q2DW event was composed primarily of the westward zonal wavenumber 3 (W3) mode but also had measurable amplitudes in other westward modes W1, W2, and W4; eastward modes E1 and E2; and stationary mode S0. Of the secondary modes, W1, W2, and E2 had the larger amplitudes. Inferred MLS balance winds enabled estimates of the Eliassen‐Palm fluxes for each mode, and cumulative zonal accelerations that were found to be in reasonable agreement with radar estimates from ~35°S to 70°S at the lower altitudes at which radar winds were available.