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Gravity-Wave-Induced Variations In Exothermic Heating In The Low-Latitude, Equinox Mesophere And Lower Thermosphere Region, Michael P. Hickey Ph.D., Tai-Yin Huang

Publications

We investigate gravity-wave-induced variations in exothermic heating in the OH nightglow region at a latitude of 18° in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during March. An OH nightglow chemistry model with gravity wavefields from a spectral full-wave model is used for the investigation. Our simulation results show that the wave packet induces a large secular increase in the number densities of the minor species involved in the OH chemistry, a 50% increase in O3, 42% in O, and 29% in OH (v= 8), and the ultimate driver for these increases is the wave-driven downward transport of O. We find that …