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Gravity wave momentum flux in the upper mesosphere derived from OH airglow imaging measurements

Earth, Planets and Space volume 59, pages 421–428 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

We report procedures to identify small-scale (20–100 km) atmospheric gravity waves from OH airglow images to estimate momentum fluxes carried by the waves. We also deduce contamination of background continuum emission in OH image, by comparing a simultaneous observation of OH lines measured by the Spectral Airglow Temperature Imager (SATI). We applied the procedures to a one-night dataset obtained at Shigaraki, Japan (34.9°N, 136.1°E) on November 19, 1999. The background wind, which is essential for deriving the intrinsic parameters of gravity waves, was measured by the Middle and Upper Atmosphere (MU) radar. Contamination of background continuum emission with the OH filter was deduced to be 30%. From these procedures, we found that the gravity waves identified in the OH images were mainly propagating southward or southeastward with horizontal wavelengths of 60–90 km and apparent phase speeds of 40–80 m/s. The estimated momentum fluxes on this night was 1–15 m2 s−2, with an average of 4.9 m2 s−2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Toyokawai, Aichi, 442-8507, Japan

    Shin Suzuki, Kazuo Shiokawa, Yuichi Otsuka & Tadahiko Ogawa

  2. National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8795, Japan

    Minoru Kubota

  3. National Institute of Polar Research, Itabashi, Tokyo, 173-8515, Japan

    Masaki Tsutsumi

  4. Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan

    Takuji Nakamura

  5. Division of Northwest Research Associates, Colorado Research Associates, Boulder, Colorado, 80301, USA

    David C. Fritts

Authors
  1. Shin Suzuki
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  2. Kazuo Shiokawa
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  3. Yuichi Otsuka
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  4. Tadahiko Ogawa
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  5. Minoru Kubota
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  6. Masaki Tsutsumi
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  7. Takuji Nakamura
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  8. David C. Fritts
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Correspondence to Shin Suzuki.

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Suzuki, S., Shiokawa, K., Otsuka, Y. et al. Gravity wave momentum flux in the upper mesosphere derived from OH airglow imaging measurements. Earth Planet Sp 59, 421–428 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352703

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