First spaceborne observation of the entire concentric airglow structure caused by tropospheric disturbance

Abstract

Spaceborne imagers are able to observe the airglow structures with wide field of views regardless of the tropospheric condition that limits the observational time of the ground‐based imagers. Concentric wave structures of the O2 airglow in 762 nm wavelength were observed over North America on 1 June 2013 from the International Space Station. This was the first observation in which the entire image of the structure was captured from space, and its spatial scale size was determined to be 1200 km radius without assumptions. The apparent horizontal wavelength was 80 km, and the amplitude in the intensity was approximately 20% of the background intensity. The propagation velocity of the structure was derived as 125 ± 62 m/s and atmospheric gravity waves were estimated to be generated for 3.5 ± 1.7 h. Concentric structures observed in this event were interpreted to be generated by super cells that caused a tornado in its early phase.

Concentric traveling ionospheric disturbances triggered by the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

“…The V-shaped shock wave structure could later evolve to a spectrum of disturbance acoustic waves. Lin The signatures of concentric gravity waves (CGWs) in the middle atmosphere, most commonly triggered by the tropospheric deep convections, are observed using both ground-based and spaceborne airglow sensors [e.g., Suzuki et al, 2007Suzuki et al, , 2013Yue et al, 2009Yue et al, , 2013Vadas et al, 2009;Miller et al, 2015;Akiya et al, 2014]. It is until recently, the CGWs signatures appeared as concentric TIDs (CTIDs) driven by deep convections are observed at the ionospheric height of 250-350 km using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) TEC [Nishioka et al, 2013;Azeem et al, 2015;Chou et al, 2017].…”

Magnetic ripples observed by Swarm satellites and their enhancement during typhoon activity

“…Concentric wave structures associated with tropical cyclones (TCs) have been detected in mesospheric airglow images (e.g., Suzuki et al 2013;Akiya et al 2014;Yue et al 2014). Typhoon-generated gravity waves have been observed using MU (Middle and Upper atmosphere) radar in the stratosphere (e.g., Sato 1993;Dhaka 2003).…”

Three years of concentric gravity wave variability in the mesopause as observed by IMAP/VISI

“…These past studies have revealed the general properties of CGWs, such as launching mechanism and effect of the background wind profile. However, these are mostly single event studies and give only local information [e.g., Taylor and Hapgood , ; Dewan et al ., ; Suzuki et al ., , , Vadas et al ., ; Yue et al ., , ; Akiya et al ., , Azeem et al ., ; Miller et al ., ]. A statistical study on global distribution of the CGWs is needed to gain a more comprehensive understanding.…”

“…To our best knowledge, there exists no statistical study of CGWs in the mesopause. Ionosphere, Mesosphere, upper Atmosphere and Plasmasphere/Visible and near-Infrared Spectral Imager (IMAP/VISI) along with Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) radiometer on Suomi satellite are among the few space-based instruments that are capable of imaging small-scale gravity waves in airglow emission (several tens of kilometers for IMAP/VISI and~0.74 km for DNB) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region [Sakanoi et al, 2011;Akiya et al, 2014;Miller et al, 2015]. Thus, it makes IMAP/VISI suitable for conducting global studies.…”