We report on the first observation of persistent inertia gravity wave signatures in the horizontal wind and temperature by Doppler Rayleigh lidar in the middle atmosphere. The observations were performed at the Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research station in northern Norway (69°N,16°E) between 21 and 23 January 2012. The measurements cover the altitude range from 20 km to about 80 km during nighttime and to about 70 km during daytime. We observe amplitudes of 5 to 25 m/s and 1 to 8 K in wind and temperature, respectively. The measured kinetic to potential energy density ratio is about 10, indicating that the majority of variability is due to waves with intrinsic frequencies close to the inertial frequency. The entire wavefield is mainly characterized by the presence of multiple waves; however, quasi‐monochromatic waves could be identified at limited times around 60 km altitude with a mean momentum flux in direction of propagation of 3.8 m2/s2.

Abstract. During a joint campaign in January 2009, the Rayleigh/Mie/Raman (RMR) lidar and the sodium lidar at the ALOMAR Observatory (69 • N, 16 • E) in Northern Norway were operated simultaneously for more than 40 h, collecting data for wind measurements in the middle atmosphere from 30 up to 110 km altitude. As both lidars share the same receiving telescopes, the upper altitude range of the RMR lidar and the lower altitude range of the sodium lidar overlap in the altitude region of ≈ 80-85 km. For this overlap region we are thus able to present the first simultaneous wind measurements derived from two different lidar instruments. The comparison of winds derived by RMR and sodium lidar is excellent for long integration times of 10 h as well as shorter ones of 1 h. Combination of data from both lidars allows identifying wavy structures between 30 and 110 km altitude, whose amplitudes increase with height. We have also performed vertical wind measurements and measurements of the same horizontal wind component using two independent lasers and telescopes of the RMR lidar and show how to use this data to calibrate and validate the wind retrieval. For the latter configuration we found a good agreement of the results but also identified inhomogeneities in the horizontal wind at about 55 km altitude of up to 20 ms −1 for an integration time of nearly 4 h. Such small-scale inhomogeneities in the horizontal wind field are an essential challenge when comparing data from different instruments.

Wind profile information throughout the entire upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere (USLM) is important for the understanding of atmospheric dynamics but became available only recently, thanks to developments in remote sensing techniques and modelling approaches. However, as wind measurements from these altitudes are rare, such products have generally not yet been validated with (other) observations. This paper presents the first long-term intercomparison of wind observations in the USLM by colocated microwave radiometer and lidar instruments at Andenes, Norway (69.3 • N, 16.0 • E). Good correspondence has been found at all altitudes for both horizontal wind components for nighttime as well as daylight conditions. Biases are mostly within the random errors and do not exceed 5-10 m s −1 , which is less than 10 % of the typically encountered wind speeds. Moreover, comparisons of the observations with the major reanalyses and models covering this altitude range are shown, in particular with the recently released ERA5, ECMWF's first reanalysis to cover the whole USLM region. The agreement between models and observations is very good in general, but temporally limited occurrences of pronounced discrepancies (up to 40 m s −1 ) exist. In the article's Appendix the possibility of obtaining nighttime wind information about the mesopause region by means of microwave radiometry is investigated.

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Abstract. We present an extensive data set of simultaneous temperature and wind measurements in the Arctic middle atmosphere. It consists of more than 300 h of Doppler Rayleigh lidar observations obtained during three January seasons (2012, 2014, and 2015) and covers the altitude range from 30 km up to about 85 km. The data set reveals large yearto-year variations in monthly mean temperatures and winds, which in 2012 are affected by a sudden stratospheric warming. The temporal evolution of winds and temperatures after that warming are studied over a period of 2 weeks, showing an elevated stratopause and the reformation of the polar vortex. The monthly mean temperatures and winds are compared to data extracted from the Integrated Forecast System of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07). Lidar and ECMWF data show good agreement of mean zonal and meridional winds below ≈ 55 km altitude, but we also find mean temperature, zonal wind, and meridional wind differences of up to 20 K, 20 m s −1 , and 5 m s −1 , respectively. Differences between lidar observations and HWM07 data are up to 30 m s −1 . From the fluctuations of temperatures and winds within single nights we extract the potential and kinetic gravity wave energy density (GWED) per unit mass. It shows that the kinetic GWED is typically 5 to 10 times larger than the potential GWED, the total GWED increases with altitude with a scale height of ≈ 16 km. Since temporal fluctuations of winds and temperatures are underestimated in ECMWF, the total GWED is underestimated as well by a factor of 3-10 above 50 km altitude. Similarly, we estimate the energy density per unit mass for largescale waves (LWED) from the fluctuations of nightly mean temperatures and winds. The total LWED is roughly constant with altitude. The ratio of kinetic to potential LWED varies with altitude over 2 orders of magnitude. LWEDs from ECMWF data show results similar to the lidar data. From the comparison of GWED and LWED, it follows that largescale waves carry about 2 to 5 times more energy than gravity waves.