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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Characteristics Of Instabilities In The Mesopause Region Over Maui, Hawaii, Feng Li, Alan Z. Liu, Gary R. Swenson Feb 2005

Characteristics Of Instabilities In The Mesopause Region Over Maui, Hawaii, Feng Li, Alan Z. Liu, Gary R. Swenson

Physical Sciences - Daytona Beach

Characteristics of convective and dynamical instabilities in the mesopause region (between 85 and 100 km) over Maui, Hawaii (20.7ºN, 156.3ºW) are investigated using 19 nights, ~133 hours of high-resolution wind and temperature data obtained by the University of Illinois Na wind/temperature lidar during the Maui Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (Maui MALT) campaigns. The mean probabilities of convective and dynamical instabilities are observed to be ~3 and 10%, respectively, but there is considerable night-to-night variation. At any given time the probability that an unstable condition is found at some altitudes in the 85–100 km range is 90%. The Maui MALT data …


Vertical Heat And Constituent Transport In The Mesopause Region By Dissipating Gravity Waves At Maui, Hawaii (20.7ºn), And Starfire Optical Range, New Mexico (35ºn), Alan Z. Liu, Chester S. Gardner Jan 2005

Vertical Heat And Constituent Transport In The Mesopause Region By Dissipating Gravity Waves At Maui, Hawaii (20.7ºn), And Starfire Optical Range, New Mexico (35ºn), Alan Z. Liu, Chester S. Gardner

Physical Sciences - Daytona Beach

Vertical heat flux profiles induced by dissipating gravity waves in the mesopause region (85–100 km altitude) are derived from Na lidar measurements of winds and temperatures at Maui (20.7ºN, 156.3ºW), Hawaii, and compared with earlier results from Starfire Optical Range (SOR, 35.0ºN, 106.5ºW), New Mexico. The heat flux profile at SOR has a single downward maximum of 2.25 ± 0.3 K m/s at 88 km, while the profile at Maui has two downward maxima of 1.25 ± 0.5 K m/s and 1.40 ± 0.5 K m/s at 87 and 95 km, respectively. The common maximum below 90 km can be …


Estimation Of Gravity Wave Momentum Flux With Spectroscopic Imaging, Jing Tang, Farzad Kamalabadi, Steven J. Franke, Alan Z. Liu, Gary R. Swenson Jan 2005

Estimation Of Gravity Wave Momentum Flux With Spectroscopic Imaging, Jing Tang, Farzad Kamalabadi, Steven J. Franke, Alan Z. Liu, Gary R. Swenson

Physical Sciences - Daytona Beach

Atmospheric gravity waves play a significant role in the dynamics and thermal balance of the upper atmosphere. In this paper, we present a novel technique for automated and robust calculation of momentum flux of high-frequency quasi-monochromatic wave components from spectroscopic imaging and horizontal radar wind measurements. Our approach uses the two-dimensional (2-D) cross periodogram of two consecutive Doppler-shifted time-differenced (TD) images to identify wave components and estimate intrinsic wave parameters. Besides estimating the average perturbation of dominant waves in the whole field of view, this technique applies 2-D short-space Fourier transform to the TD images to identify localized wave events. …