Infrared Photography of OH Airglow Structures

Peterson, A. W.; Kieffaber, L. M.

doi:10.1038/242321a0

Cited by 82 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Ground-based airglow imagers have been utilized to study these AGW activities by charactering the emission perturbation since Peterson and Kieffaber (1973). The most commonly observed feature is the quasi-monochromatic (QM) wave, which appears as coherent bands in the imagers (Peterson, 1979).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and local time variability of ripples from airglow imager observations in US and Japan

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Ripples as seen in airglow imagers are small wavy structures with short horizontal wavelengths (<15 km). Ripples are thought to form as the result of local instabilities, which are believed to occur when the amplitude of gravity waves becomes large enough. We have investigated ripple formation based on years of airglow imager observations located at Fort Collins, Colorado (41 • N, 105 • W) and Misato Observatory, Japan (34 • N, 135 • E)/Shigaraki MU Observatory (35 • N, 136 • E). Na temperature-wind lidar observations are employed to detect convective and dynamic instabilities in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region over Fort Collins, Colorado. Seasonal variation of the ripple occurrence in Colorado is compared to that of the lidar-measured instability. The occurrence frequency of ripples varies semiannually, with maxima occurring during solstices and minima during equinoxes in both Colorado and Japan. However, the probability of convective and dynamic instabilities varies annually with a peak in Colorado winter. The seasonal variation of the occurrence frequency of ripples correlates with that of the gravity wave variances in the MLT. Ripple occurrence over Colorado also shows strong local time dependence, but it bears little resemblance to the local time dependence of instability probability.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and local time variability of ripples from airglow imager observations in US and Japan

et al. 2010

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“…In particular, airglow imaging technique developed in 1970s (Peterson and Kieffaber, 1973) provides a unique detecting method by monitoring the nighttime airglow emission perturbation induced by the AGWs. Since then, many investigators have studied the two-dimensional horizontal characteristics of AGWs in the MLT region using imaging technique (Taylor, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical characteristics of gravity wave activities observed by an OH airglow imager at Xinglong, in northern China

Yue

et al. 2011

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. An all-sky airglow imager (ASAI) was installed at Xinglong, in northern China (40.2 • N, 117.4 • E) in November 2009 to study the morphology of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region. Using one year of OH airglow imager data from December 2009 to November 2010, the characteristics of short-period AGWs are investigated and a yearlong AGW climatology in northern China is first ever reported. AGW occurrence frequency in summer and winter is higher than that in equinoctial months. Observed bands mainly have horizontal wavelengths from 10 to 35 km, observed periods from 4 to 14 min and observed horizontal phase speeds in the range of 30 to 60 m s −1 . Most of the bands propagate in the meridional direction. The propagation directions of the bands show a strong southwestward preference in winter, while almost all bands propagate northeastward in summer. Although the wind filtering in the middle atmosphere may control AGW propagations in the zonal direction, the nonuniform distribution of wave sources in the lower atmosphere may contribute to the anisotropy in the meridional direction in different seasons. Additionally, as an indication of local instability, the characteristics of ripples are also analyzed. It also shows seasonal variations, occurring more often in summer and winter and mainly moving westward in summer and eastward in winter.

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“…One of the pioneering studies which showed that images of gravity waves can be obtained from camera images of perturbed terrestrial nightglow emissions was done by Petersen and Kieffaber (1973). Since then, several different ground-based and satellite-based imaging systems have been developed and successfully operated on Earth.…”

Section: Instruments Proposedmentioning

confidence: 99%