A study of the relationship between stratospheric gravity waves and polar mesospheric clouds at Davis Antarctica

Innis, J. L.; Klekociuk, Andrew; Morris, R. J.; Cunningham, A.P.; Graham, A. D.; Murphy, D. J.

doi:10.1029/2007jd009031

Cited by 19 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(104 reference statements)

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“…[13] Some authors explain their observed variation of NLC parameters with the ambient temperatures and/or winds. Similar to reports from Gerding et al [2007] for Kühlungsborn, observations from Davis Station in Antarctica (69 ı S) show NLCs being limited to equatorward wind [Innis et al, 2008]. In contrast to these, Stevens et al [2009] observed a short period of poleward wind right before the PMC maximum.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Diurnal variations of midlatitude NLC parameters observed by daylight‐capable lidar and their relation to ambient parameters

Gerding

Kopp

Hoffmann

et al. 2013

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) are an important phenomenon of the summer mesopause region. While relatively common in high latitudes, NLCs are sparse (Ä 10% occurrence rate) below 60 ı latitude. We present the first study of diurnal variations of midlatitude NLCs based on lidar observations with full diurnal coverage at Kühlungsborn since 2010 independent from solar elevation. Overall, 100 h of NLCs with a backscatter coefficient ofˇm ax,532nm > 0.5 10 -10 m -1 sr -1 are observed within 1800 h. Occurrence rates decrease regularly from 12% at 5 local solar time (LST) to 2% at 19 LST. The mean NLC brightness varies between 1 and 3 10 -10 m -1 sr -1 with maxima at 4 and 18 LST. The simultaneously observed temperatures show a systematic (tidal) variation, but we do not find a direct relation to NLC rates. Comparing NLCs and ambient winds, we find strong indications for the meridional wind (advection) being the main driver for NLC occurrence above our site. Citation: Gerding, M., M. Kopp, P. Hoffmann, J. Höffner, and F.-J. Lübken (2013), Diurnal variations of midlatitude NLC parameters observed by daylight-capable lidar, and their relation to ambient parameters, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40,[6390][6391][6392][6393][6394]

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Diurnal variations of midlatitude NLC parameters observed by daylight‐capable lidar and their relation to ambient parameters

Gerding

Kopp

Hoffmann

et al. 2013

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…This anticorrelation for short period gravity waves has been confirmed by lidar measurements at the South Pole (Chu et al, 2009) and in Sondrestrom, Greenland (Thayer et al, 2003;Gerrard et al, 2004). On the contrary, no such anticorrelation was found in Rothera, Antarctica (Chu et al, 2009), Davis, Antarctica (Innis et al, 2008) and ALOMAR, Norway (Schöch, 2007). The applied methodology was basically the same at all locations: density fluctuations in the stratosphere serve as a measure for gravity wave activity, which is then correlated to mesospheric cloud parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Gravity wave influence on NLC: experimental results from ALOMAR, 69° N

Wilms

Rapp

Hoffmann³

et al. 2013

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. The influence of gravity waves on noctilucent clouds (NLC) at ALOMAR (69 • N) is analysed by relating gravity wave activity to NLC occurrence from commonvolume measurements. Gravity wave kinetic energies are derived from MF-radar wind data and filtered into different period ranges by wavelet transformation. From the dataset covering the years 1999-2011, a direct correlation between gravity wave kinetic energy and NLC occurrence is not found, i.e., NLC appear independently of the simultaneously measured gravity wave kinetic energy. In addition, gravity wave activity is divided into weak and strong activity as compared to a 13 yr mean. The NLC occurrence rates during strong and weak activity are calculated separately for a given wave period and compared to each other. Again, for the full dataset no dependence of NLC occurrence on relative gravity wave activity is found. However, concentrating on 12 h of NLC detections during 2008, we do find an NLC-amplification with strong long-period gravity wave occurrence. Our analysis hence confirms previous findings that in general NLC at ALOMAR are not predominantly driven by gravity waves while exceptions to this rule are at least possible.

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“…The two instruments are separated by less than 1 km. Details on the detection of PMC with the Davis lidar are provided by Innis et al [2008]. Technical parameters and data processing techniques utilized for the MST radar observations were reported by Morris et al [2006].…”

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Southern Hemisphere common‐volume measurements of PMC and PMSE

Klekociuk¹,

Morris²,

Innis³

2008

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] Using Rayleigh lidar and Mesosphere-StratosphereTroposphere radar at Davis Antarctica (68.6°S) during the 2005 -2006 austral summer, we obtained the first Southern Hemisphere common-volume measurements of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC) and Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE). PMC were observed with 6% probability during 349 hours of lidar observations. PMSE were simultaneously observed during 70% of the PMC events. The mean centroid altitudes of simultaneous PMC and PMSE were 83.97 ± 0.10 km and 85.31 ± 0.14 km, respectively. The altitude difference ($1.3 km) is comparable to earlier boreal common-volume measurements. Both phenomena show clear diurnal variations in altitude and occurrence. PMC had a unimodal local time occurrence distribution which peaked 4 -6 hours after solar midnight. PMSE were most prevalent at this time, but had a secondary occurrence peak $6 hours after solar noon when PMC were absent. We explain the altitude-time distributions of PMC and PMSE in terms of the thermal structure of the mesopause region determined using measurements from the Aura satellite.

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A study of the relationship between stratospheric gravity waves and polar mesospheric clouds at Davis Antarctica

Cited by 19 publications

References 32 publications

Diurnal variations of midlatitude NLC parameters observed by daylight‐capable lidar and their relation to ambient parameters

Diurnal variations of midlatitude NLC parameters observed by daylight‐capable lidar and their relation to ambient parameters

Gravity wave influence on NLC: experimental results from ALOMAR, 69° N

First Southern Hemisphere common‐volume measurements of PMC and PMSE

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