Remote sensing of discrete stratospheric gravity‐wave structure at 4.3‐µm from the MSX satellite

Picard, R. H.; O'Neil, R. R.; Gardiner, Harold A. B.; Gibson, James J.; Winick, J. R.; Gallery, W. O.; Stair, A. T.; Wintersteiner, P. P.; Hegblom, E.R.; Richards, E.

doi:10.1029/98gl01701

Cited by 25 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Among other e ects, these thunderstorm-generated gravity waves can modulate the optical emissions in the nightglow layer (Krassovsky, 1972) that are detectable from the ground (e.g. Taylor and Hapgood, 1988;Taylor and Hill, 1991;Turnbull and Lowe, 1991) and from orbiting imaging platforms (Dewan et al, 1998;Picard et al, 1998). The emission intensity of the OH nightglow is sensitively dependent on small wave-induced temperature uctuations (Makhlouf et al, 1995) and readily responds to thunderstorm-generated gravity wave temperature uctuations to produce brightness variations such as reported by Taylor et al (1995).…”

Section: Oh Chemistry and Wave Dynamics Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous observations of mesospheric gravity waves and sprites generated by a midwestern thunderstorm

Sentman¹,

Wescott²,

Picard³

et al. 2003

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

143

160

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Wescott, E. M.; Picard, R. H.; Winick, J. R.; Stenbaek-Nielsen, H. C.; Dewan, E. M.; Moudry, D. R.; São Sabbas, F. T.; Heavner, M. J.; and Morrill, J., "Simultaneous observations of mesospheric gravity waves and sprites generated by a midwestern thunderstorm" (2003 AbstractThe present report investigates using simultaneous observations of coincident gravity waves and sprites to establish an upper limit on sprite-associated thermal energy deposition in the mesosphere. The University of Alaska operated a variety of optical imagers and photometers at two ground sites in support of the NASA Sprites99 balloon campaign. One site was atop a US Forest Service lookout tower on Bear Mt. in the Black Hills, in western South Dakota. On the night of 18 August 1999 we obtained from this site simultaneous images of sprites and OH airglow modulated by gravity waves emanating from a very active sprite producing thunderstorm over Nebraska, to the Southeast of Bear Mt. Using 25 s exposures with a bare CCD camera equipped with a red ÿlter, we were able to coincidentally record both short duration (¡10 ms) but bright (¿3 MR) N2 1PG red emissions from sprites and much weaker (∼1 kR), but persistent, OH Meinel nightglow emissions. A time lapse movie created from images revealed short period, complete 360• concentric wave structures emanating radially outward from a central excitation region directly above the storm. During the initial stages of the storm outwardly expanding waves possessed a period of ≈10 min and wavelength ≈50 km. Over a 1 h interval the waves gradually changed to longer period ≈11 min and shorter wavelength ≈40 km. Over the full 2 h observation time, about two dozen bright sprites generated by the underlying thunderstorm were recorded near the center of the outwardly radiating gravity wave pattern. No distinctive OH brightness signatures uniquely associated with the sprites were detected at the level of 2% of the ambient background brightness, establishing an associated upper limit of approximately T . 0:5 K for a neutral temperature perturbation over the volume of the sprites. The corresponding total thermal energy deposited by the sprite is bounded by these measurements to be less than ∼1 GJ. This value is well above the total energy deposited into the medium by the sprite, estimated by several independent methods to be on the order of ∼1-10 MJ.

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Section: Oh Chemistry and Wave Dynamics Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous observations of mesospheric gravity waves and sprites generated by a midwestern thunderstorm

Sentman¹,

Wescott²,

Picard³

et al. 2003

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

143

160

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“…Since the 1960s, satellites have characterized gravity wave distributions in the middle atmosphere (21)(22)(23). Whereas nadir-viewing infrared sounders, which offer much higher horizontal spatial resolution (∼10 km) than limb sounders and GPS radio occultation systems (∼100 km), have provided a global climatology of stratospheric gravity waves, corresponding high-resolution observations of waves occurring at mesospheric levels and above have not been available on a regular basis.…”

Section: Wading Into the Deep End Of The Atmospheric Wave Poolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upper atmospheric gravity wave details revealed in nightglow satellite imagery

Miller

Straka

Yue

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

102

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Gravity waves (disturbances to the density structure of the atmosphere whose restoring forces are gravity and buoyancy) comprise the principal form of energy exchange between the lower and upper atmosphere. Wave breaking drives the mean upper atmospheric circulation, determining boundary conditions to stratospheric processes, which in turn influence tropospheric weather and climate patterns on various spatial and temporal scales. Despite their recognized importance, very little is known about upper-level gravity wave characteristics. The knowledge gap is mainly due to lack of global, high-resolution observations from currently available satellite observing systems. Consequently, representations of wave-related processes in global models are crude, highly parameterized, and poorly constrained, limiting the description of various processes influenced by them. Here we highlight, through a series of examples, the unanticipated ability of the Day/Night Band (DNB) on the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership environmental satellite to resolve gravity structures near the mesopause via nightglow emissions at unprecedented subkilometric detail. On moonless nights, the Day/Night Band observations provide all-weather viewing of waves as they modulate the nightglow layer located near the mesopause (∼90 km above mean sea level). These waves are launched by a variety of physical mechanisms, ranging from orography to convection, intensifying fronts, and even seismic and volcanic events. Cross-referencing the Day/Night Band imagery with conventional thermal infrared imagery also available helps to discern nightglow structures and in some cases to attribute their sources. The capability stands to advance our basic understanding of a critical yet poorly constrained driver of the atmospheric circulation.

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“…Efforts under this work unit dealing with GWs build on earlier pioneering papers by team members on observing GWs seen in the IR from earth orbit and modeling the process Picard et al, 1998]. The first paper analyzes two examples of circular concentric GWs seen in MSX B1-band (4.22-4.36 μm) below-the-horizon (BTH) near-limb scenes and shows that the waves are radiated from point sources associated with compact convective storms.…”

Section: Atmospheric Gravity Wavesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical/Infrared Signatures for Space-Based Remote Sensing

Picard¹,

Dewan²,

Winick³

et al. 2007

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Remote sensing of discrete stratospheric gravity‐wave structure at 4.3‐µm from the MSX satellite

Cited by 25 publications

References 12 publications

Simultaneous observations of mesospheric gravity waves and sprites generated by a midwestern thunderstorm

Simultaneous observations of mesospheric gravity waves and sprites generated by a midwestern thunderstorm

Upper atmospheric gravity wave details revealed in nightglow satellite imagery

Optical/Infrared Signatures for Space-Based Remote Sensing

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