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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Investigating Mesospheric Gravity Wave Dynamics Over Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica (77° S), Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor, Yucheng Zhao, Dominique Pautet Dec 2014

Investigating Mesospheric Gravity Wave Dynamics Over Mcmurdo Station, Antarctica (77° S), Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor, Yucheng Zhao, Dominique Pautet

Graduate Student Posters

The ANtarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network (ANGWIN) is an NSF sponsored international program designed to develop and utilize a network of gravity wave observatories using existing and new instrumentation operated at several established research stations around the continent. The primary goal is to better understand and quantify large-scale gravity wave climatology and their effects on the upper atmosphere over Antarctica. ANGWIN currently comprises research measurements from five nations (U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, and Brazil) at seven international stations. Utah State University’s Atmospheric Imaging Lab operates an all-sky CCD, all-sky infrared imagers and an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM) imager at …


Effects Of Major Sudden Stratospheric Warmings Identified In Midlatitude Mesospheric Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Temperatures, Leda Sox, Vincent B. Wickwar, Chad Fish, Josh Herron Dec 2014

Effects Of Major Sudden Stratospheric Warmings Identified In Midlatitude Mesospheric Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Temperatures, Leda Sox, Vincent B. Wickwar, Chad Fish, Josh Herron

Physics Student Research

Mesospheric temperature anomalies associated with Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSWs) have been observed extensively in the polar regions. However, observations of these anomalies at midlatitudes are sparse. The very dense 11-year data set, collected between 1993–2004, with the Rayleigh-scatter lidar at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO; 41.7°N, 111.8°W) at the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) on the campus of Utah State University (USU), has been carefully examined for such anomalies. The temperatures derived from these data extend over the mesosphere, from 45 to 90 km. During this period extensive data were acquired during seven major SSW events. In this …


New Measurements Of Mcmurdo Gravity Wave Parameters, Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor Oct 2014

New Measurements Of Mcmurdo Gravity Wave Parameters, Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor

Graduate Student Presentations

The ANtarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network (ANGWIN) is an NSF sponsored international program designed to develop and utilize a network of gravity wave observatories using existing and new instrumentation operated at several established research stations around the continent. The primary goal is to better understand and quantify large-scale gravity wave climatology and their effects on the upper atmosphere over Antarctica. ANGWIN currently comprises research measurements from five nations (U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, and Brazil) at seven international stations. Utah State University’s Atmospheric Imaging Lab operates all-sky infrared and CCD imagers and an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM) imager at several …


Initial Measurements Of Mesospheric Gravity Waves Over Mcmurdo, Antarctica, Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor, Yucheng Zhao, P.Dominique Pautet Jun 2014

Initial Measurements Of Mesospheric Gravity Waves Over Mcmurdo, Antarctica, Jonathan Pugmire, Michael J. Taylor, Yucheng Zhao, P.Dominique Pautet

Graduate Student Posters

The ANtarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network (ANGWIN) is an NSF sponsored international program designed to develop and utilize a network of gravity wave observatories using existing and new instrumentation operated at several established research stations around the continent. The primary goal is to better understand and quantify large-scale gravity wave climatology and their effects on the upper atmosphere over Antarctica. ANGWIN currently comprises research measurements from five nations (U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, and Brazil) at seven international stations. Utah State University’s Atmospheric Imaging Lab operates all-sky infrared and CCD imagers and an Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM) imager at several …


Seasonal Variations Of Relative Neutral Densities Between 45 And 90 Km Determined From Usu Rayleigh Lidar Observations, David Barton, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron Jun 2014

Seasonal Variations Of Relative Neutral Densities Between 45 And 90 Km Determined From Usu Rayleigh Lidar Observations, David Barton, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, Joshua P. Herron

Posters

A Rayleigh-scatter lidar operated at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO; 41.7°N, 111.8°W), part of Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) on the campus of Utah State University (USU), collected extensive data between 1993 and 2004. From the Rayleigh lidar photon-count profiles, relative densities were determined throughout the mesosphere, from 45 to 90 km. Using these relative densities three climatologies were derived, each using a different density normalization at 45 km. The first normalized the relative densities to a constant; the second to the NRL-MSISe00 empirical model which has a strong annual component; and the third to the CPC analyses …


Extremely Sensitive Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar At Usu, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, David Barton, Matthew T. Emerick Jun 2014

Extremely Sensitive Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar At Usu, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox, David Barton, Matthew T. Emerick

Posters

Rayleigh lidar opened a portion of the atmosphere, from 30 to 90 km, to ground-based observations. Rayleigh-scatter observations were made at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO) at Utah State University (USU) from 1993–2004 between 45 and 90 km, creating a very dense data set consisting of ~5000 hours of observations carried out over ~900 nights. The lidar had a mirror of area 0.15 m2 and a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 nm at 30 Hz at ~21 W, giving a power-aperture product (PAP) of ~3.1 Wm2.


Interpretation (Or Is It Calibration?) Of Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Signals, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox Jun 2014

Interpretation (Or Is It Calibration?) Of Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar Signals, Vincent B. Wickwar, Leda Sox

Presentations

No abstract provided.


Midlatitude Mesospheric Temperature Anomalies During Major Ssw Events As Observed With Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar, Leda Sox, Vincent B. Wickwar, Chad Fish, Joshua P. Herron Jun 2014

Midlatitude Mesospheric Temperature Anomalies During Major Ssw Events As Observed With Rayleigh-Scatter Lidar, Leda Sox, Vincent B. Wickwar, Chad Fish, Joshua P. Herron

Graduate Student Posters

While the mesospheric temperature anomalies associated with Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSWs) have been observed extensively in the polar regions, observations of these anomalies at midlatitudes are sparse. The original Rayleigh-scatter lidar that operated at the Atmospheric Lidar Observatory (ALO; 41.7°N, 111.8°W) in the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) on the campus of Utah State University (USU) collected a very dense set of temperature data for 11 years, from 1993 through 2004. The temperatures derived from these data extended over the mesosphere, from 45 to 90 km. This work focuses on the extensive Rayleigh lidar observations made during seven …


Ensemble Modeling With Data Assimilation Models: A New Strategy For Space Weather Specifications, Forecasts, And Science, Robert W. Schunk, Ludger Scherliess, V. Eccles, Larry Gardner, Jan Josef Sojka, L. Zhu, X. Pi, A. J. Mannucci, B. D. Wilson, A. Komjathy, C, Wang, G. Rosen Mar 2014

Ensemble Modeling With Data Assimilation Models: A New Strategy For Space Weather Specifications, Forecasts, And Science, Robert W. Schunk, Ludger Scherliess, V. Eccles, Larry Gardner, Jan Josef Sojka, L. Zhu, X. Pi, A. J. Mannucci, B. D. Wilson, A. Komjathy, C, Wang, G. Rosen

All Physics Faculty Publications

The Earth’s Ionosphere-Thermosphere-Electrodynamics (I-T-E) system varies markedly on a range of spatial and temporal scales and these variations have adverse effects on human operations and systems, including high-frequency communications, over-the-horizon radars, and survey and navigation systems that use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. Consequently, there is a need to elucidate the underlying physical pro- cesses that lead to space weather disturbances and to both mitigate and forecast near-Earth space weather.


Ionospheric Ion Temperature Forecasting In Multiples Of 27 Days, Jan Josef Sojka, Robert W. Schunk, Michael J. Nicholls Mar 2014

Ionospheric Ion Temperature Forecasting In Multiples Of 27 Days, Jan Josef Sojka, Robert W. Schunk, Michael J. Nicholls

All Physics Faculty Publications

he ionospheric variability found at auroral locations is usually assumed to be unpredictable. The magnetosphere, which drives this ionospheric variability via storms and substorms, is at best only qualitatively describable. In this study we demonstrate that over a 3 year period, ionospheric variability observed from Poker Flat, Alaska, has, in fact, a high degree of long-term predictability. The observations used in this study are (a) the solar wind high speed stream velocity measured by the NASA Advanced Composition Explorer satellite, used to define the corotating interaction region (CIR), and (b) the ion temperature at 300 km altitude measured by the …


Coordinated Investigation Of Midlatitude Upper Mesospheric Temperature Inversion Layers And The Associated Gravity Wave Forcing By Na Lidar And Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper In Logan, Utah, Tao Yuan, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Y. Zhao, Xuguang Cai, Michael J. Taylor, Neal R. Criddle Mar 2014

Coordinated Investigation Of Midlatitude Upper Mesospheric Temperature Inversion Layers And The Associated Gravity Wave Forcing By Na Lidar And Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper In Logan, Utah, Tao Yuan, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Y. Zhao, Xuguang Cai, Michael J. Taylor, Neal R. Criddle

All Physics Faculty Publications

Mesospheric inversion layers (MIL) are well studied in the literature but their relationship to the dynamic feature associated with the breaking of atmospheric waves in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT) region are not well understood. Two strong MIL events (ΔT ~30 K) were observed above 90 km during a 6 day full diurnal cycle Na lidar campaign conducted from 6 August to 13 August Logan, Utah (42°N, 112°W). Colocated Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper observations provided key information on concurrent gravity wave (GW) events and their characteristics during the nighttime observations. The study found both MILs were well correlated with the development …


Global Nightly Oh And O2 Mesospheric Airglow: Examining A Decade Of Measurements Using The Nasa Saber Satellite Sensor, Jonathan Price, Jordan C. Rozum, Gene Ware, Doran Baker Jan 2014

Global Nightly Oh And O2 Mesospheric Airglow: Examining A Decade Of Measurements Using The Nasa Saber Satellite Sensor, Jonathan Price, Jordan C. Rozum, Gene Ware, Doran Baker

Browse All Undergraduate research

The SABER instrument aboard the TIMED satellite is a multichannel radiometer and has been continuously measuring the altitude distribution of infrared airglow intensity in the mesosphere on a global basis since 2002. While the majority of these altitude distributions are Gaussian-like, a significant portion exhibit two or more local maxima, suggesting multiple airglow layers. To better understand the cause of this phenomenon, the global and temporal distributions of infrared OH andO2 scans resulting in multiple peak altitude profiles are being examined.