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Full-Text Articles in Atmospheric Sciences

On A Guiding Of Whistler-Mode Waves By Density Gradients, Anatoly V. Streltsov Dec 2022

On A Guiding Of Whistler-Mode Waves By Density Gradients, Anatoly V. Streltsov

Publications

Observations from satellites demonstrate that in the magnetosphere, VLF whistler-mode waves are frequently detected in the narrow transition regions, where the plasma density changes its magnitude over a short distance across the ambient magnetic field. These observations suggest that the small-scale, isolated density gradients can guide the VLF whistler-mode waves along the field. We investigate the guiding of the whistler-mode waves by the transverse density gradients with a size much less than the characteristic perpendicular size of the wave. We found analytical solutions describing these waves in the plasma with a sharp density discontinuity between two homogeneous regions, and confirm …


Coupling Evidence From Lower Atmosphere To Mesosphere And Ionosphere Through Quasi 27-Day Oscillation, Alan Z. Liu, Kaiming Huang, Hao Cheng, Shaodong Zhang, Chunming Huang, Yun Gong, Gang Chen Nov 2022

Coupling Evidence From Lower Atmosphere To Mesosphere And Ionosphere Through Quasi 27-Day Oscillation, Alan Z. Liu, Kaiming Huang, Hao Cheng, Shaodong Zhang, Chunming Huang, Yun Gong, Gang Chen

Publications

Using meteor radar, radiosonde and digisonde observations and MERRA-2 reanalysis data from 12 August to 31 October 2006, we report a dynamical coupling from the tropical lower atmosphere to the mesosphere and ionospheric F2 region through a quasi 27-day intraseasonal oscillation (ISO). It is interesting that the quasi 27-day ISO is active in the troposphere and stratopause and mesopause regions, exhibiting a three-layer structure. In the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT), the amplitude in the zonal wind increases from about 4 ms at 90 km to 15 ms at 100 km, which is different from previous observations that ISOs generally …


The Dynamics Of Tsunamigenic Acoustic-Gravity Waves And Bathymetry Effect, Pavel Alexandrovich Inchin, Christopher James Heale, Jonathan Brian Snively, Matthew David Zettergren Nov 2022

The Dynamics Of Tsunamigenic Acoustic-Gravity Waves And Bathymetry Effect, Pavel Alexandrovich Inchin, Christopher James Heale, Jonathan Brian Snively, Matthew David Zettergren

Publications

The investigation of atmospheric tsunamigenic acoustic and gravity wave (TAGW) dynamics, from the ocean surface to the thermosphere, is performed through the numerical computations of the 3D compressible nonlinear Navier-Stokes equations. Tsunami propagation is first simulated using a nonlinear shallow water model, which incorporates instantaneous or temporal evolutions of initial tsunami distributions (ITD). Surface dynamics are then imposed as a boundary condition to excite TAGWs into the atmosphere from the ground level. We perform a case study of a large tsunami associated with the 2011 M9.1 Tohuku-Oki earthquake, and parametric studies with simplified and demonstrative bathymetry and ITD. Our results …


Climatology Of High-Frequency Gravity Waves Observed By An Airglow Imager At Andes Lidar Observatory, Alan Z. Liu, Bing Cao Nov 2022

Climatology Of High-Frequency Gravity Waves Observed By An Airglow Imager At Andes Lidar Observatory, Alan Z. Liu, Bing Cao

Publications

The long-term climatology of high-frequency quasi-monochromatic gravity waves is presented using multi-year airglow images observed at Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO, 30.3ºS, 70.7ºW) in northern Chile. A large number of high-frequency gravity waves were retrieved from OH airglow images. The distribution of primary wave parameters including horizontal wavelength, vertical wavelength, intrinsic wave speed, and intrinsic wave period are obtained and are in the ranges of 20–30 km, 15–25 km, 50–100 ms-1, and 5–10 min, respectively. The waves tend to propagate against the local background winds and show clear seasonal variations. In austral winter (Ma–Aug), the observed wave occurrence frequency is higher …


Meteor Radar Vertical Wind Observation Biases And Mathematical Debiasing Strategies Including The 3dvar+Div Algorithm, Alan Z. Liu, Zishun Qiao, Gunter Stober, Alexander Kozlovsky, Ales Kuchar, Christoph Jacobi, Chris Meek, Diego Janches, Guiping Liu, Masaki Tsutsumi, Njål Gulbrandsen, Satonori Nozawa, Mark Lester, Evgenia Belova, Johan Kero, Nicholas Mitchell Oct 2022

Meteor Radar Vertical Wind Observation Biases And Mathematical Debiasing Strategies Including The 3dvar+Div Algorithm, Alan Z. Liu, Zishun Qiao, Gunter Stober, Alexander Kozlovsky, Ales Kuchar, Christoph Jacobi, Chris Meek, Diego Janches, Guiping Liu, Masaki Tsutsumi, Njål Gulbrandsen, Satonori Nozawa, Mark Lester, Evgenia Belova, Johan Kero, Nicholas Mitchell

Publications

Meteor radars have become widely used instruments to study atmospheric dynamics, particularly in the 70 to 110 km altitude region. These systems have been proven to provide reliable and continuous measurements of horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Recently, there have been many attempts to utilize specular and/or transverse scatter meteor measurements to estimate vertical winds and vertical wind variability. In this study we investigate potential biases in vertical wind estimation that are intrinsic to the meteor radar observation geometry and scattering mechanism, and we introduce a mathematical debiasing process to mitigate them. This process makes use of …


Dynamics Of Atmospheric Gravity Wave Breaking In The Mesopause Region, Fan Yang Oct 2022

Dynamics Of Atmospheric Gravity Wave Breaking In The Mesopause Region, Fan Yang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

GWs significantly impact the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT), and as a consequence of GW breaking, atmospheric turbulence plays an essential role in the mixing and transport of momentum, mass, and chemical materials in MLT. The main focus of this research for the fulfillment of the proposed Ph.D. dissertation is to improve the understanding of the dynamic process of wave breaking and their effects in the mesopause region above Andes Lidar Observatory (30.2◦ S, 70.7◦ W). A few scientific topics related to GW break- ing are addressed. What are the probabilities of the atmosphere becoming convectively or dynamically unstable in …


Kinetic Modeling Of Ionospheric Outflows Observed By The Visions-1 Sounding Rocket, Robert M. Albarran Ii Sep 2022

Kinetic Modeling Of Ionospheric Outflows Observed By The Visions-1 Sounding Rocket, Robert M. Albarran Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Plasma escape from the high-latitude ionosphere (ion outflow) serves as a significant source of heavy plasma to magnetospheric plasma sheet and ring current regions. Outflows alter mass density and reconnection rates, hence global responses of the magnetosphere. The VISIONS-1 (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm) sounding rocket was launched on Feb. 7, 2013 at 8:21 UTC from Poker Flat, Alaska, into an auroral substorm with the objective of identifying the drivers and dynamics of nightside ion outflow at altitudes where it is initiated, below 1000 km. Energetic ion data from the VISIONS-1 polar cap boundary crossing …


Ionospheric Feedback And Ulf Quarter-Waves, Anatoly Streltsov, Evgeny V. Mishin Sep 2022

Ionospheric Feedback And Ulf Quarter-Waves, Anatoly Streltsov, Evgeny V. Mishin

Publications

This paper presents results from the numerical investigation of nonlinear feedback interactions between ULF field-aligned currents (FACs) and the ionospheric plasma in the global magnetospheric resonator with a non-symmetrical distribution of the plasma density in the conjugate hemispheres. The density asymmetry is enhanced by the introduction of the ionospheric valley in the hemisphere where the plasma density is already lower. The main result from this study is that in the non-symmetrical resonator, the ionospheric feedback mechanism, driven by the electric field with the maximum amplitude of 50 mV/m, develops nonlinear, intense, small-scale upward currents with a characteristic quarter-wavelength structure along …


Modeling Studies Of Gravity Wave Dynamics In Highly Structured Environments: Reflection, Trapping, Instability, Momentum Transport, Secondary Gravity Waves, And Induced Flow Responses, Wenjun Dong, David C. Fritts, Michael P. Hickey, Alan Z. Liu, Thomas S. Lund, Shaodong Zhang, Yanying Yan, Fan Yang Jun 2022

Modeling Studies Of Gravity Wave Dynamics In Highly Structured Environments: Reflection, Trapping, Instability, Momentum Transport, Secondary Gravity Waves, And Induced Flow Responses, Wenjun Dong, David C. Fritts, Michael P. Hickey, Alan Z. Liu, Thomas S. Lund, Shaodong Zhang, Yanying Yan, Fan Yang

Publications

A compressible numerical model is applied for three-dimensional (3-D) gravity wave (GW) packets undergoing momentum deposition, self-acceleration (SA), breaking, and secondary GW (SGW) generation in the presence of highly-structured environments enabling thermal and/or Doppler ducts, such as a mesospheric inversion layer (MIL), tidal wind (TW), or combination of MIL and TW. Simulations reveal that ducts can strongly modulate GW dynamics. Responses modeled here include reflection, trapping, suppressed transmission, strong local instabilities, reduced SGW generations, higher altitude SGW responses, and induced large-scale flows. Instabilities that arise in ducts experience strong dissipation after they emerge, while trapped smaller-amplitude and smaller-scale GWs can …


Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere Changes Associated With The 2 July 2019 Total Eclipse In South America Over The Andes Lidar Observatory, Cerro Pachon, Chile, A. Liu, F. Vargas, G. Swenson, C. Segura, P. Vega, J. Fuentes, D. Pautet, M. Taylor, Y. Zhao, Y. Morton, H. Bourne May 2022

Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere Changes Associated With The 2 July 2019 Total Eclipse In South America Over The Andes Lidar Observatory, Cerro Pachon, Chile, A. Liu, F. Vargas, G. Swenson, C. Segura, P. Vega, J. Fuentes, D. Pautet, M. Taylor, Y. Zhao, Y. Morton, H. Bourne

Publications

This article presents the results of a week of observations around the 2 July 2019, total Chilean eclipse. The eclipse occurred between 19:22 and 21:46 UTC, with complete sun disc obscuration at 20:38–20:40 UTC (16:38–16:40 LT) over the Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO) at (30.3°S, 70.7°W). Observations were carried out using ALO instrumentation with the goal to observe possible eclipse-induced effects on the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region (MLT; 75–105 km altitude). To complement our data set, we have also utilized TIMED/SABER temperatures and ionosonde electron density measurements taken at the University of La Serena's Juan Soldado Observatory. Observed events include …


Oxygen Ion Escape At Venus Associated With Three-Dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability, Tong Dang, Xuanye Ma, Jiuhou Le, Binzheng Zhang, Tielong Zhang, Zhonghua Yao, John Lyon, Sudong Xiao, Maodong Yan, Oliver Brambles, Kareem Sorathia Mar 2022

Oxygen Ion Escape At Venus Associated With Three-Dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability, Tong Dang, Xuanye Ma, Jiuhou Le, Binzheng Zhang, Tielong Zhang, Zhonghua Yao, John Lyon, Sudong Xiao, Maodong Yan, Oliver Brambles, Kareem Sorathia

Publications

How oxygens escape from Venus has long been a fundamental but controversial topic in the planetary research. Among various key mechanisms, the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) has been suggested to play an important role in the oxygen ion escape from Venus. Limited by either scarce in-situ observations or simplified theoretical estimations, the mystery of oxygen ion escape process associated with KHI is still unsettled. Here we present the first three-dimensional configuration of KHI at Venus with a global multifluid magnetohydrodynamics model, showing a significantly fine structure and evolution of the KHI. KHI mainly occurred at the low latitude boundary layer if …


3d Numerical Simulation Of Secondary Wave Generation From Mountain Wave Breaking Over Europe, Christopher J. Heale, Katrina Bossert, Sharon L. Vadas Feb 2022

3d Numerical Simulation Of Secondary Wave Generation From Mountain Wave Breaking Over Europe, Christopher J. Heale, Katrina Bossert, Sharon L. Vadas

Publications

In this paper, we simulate an observed mountain wave event over central Europe and investigate the subsequent generation, propagation, phase speeds and spatial scales, and momentum deposition of secondary waves under three different tidal wind conditions. We find the mountain wave breaks just below the lowest critical level in the mesosphere. As the mountain wave breaks, it extends outwards along the phases and fluid associated with the breaking flows downstream of its original location by 500–1,000 km. The breaking generates a broad range of secondary waves with horizontal scales ranging from the mountain wave instability scales (20–300 km), to multiples …


Feedback Interactions Between The Ionosphere And Magnetosphere At Middle Latitude, Mergen Alimaganbetov, Anatoly Streltsov Feb 2022

Feedback Interactions Between The Ionosphere And Magnetosphere At Middle Latitude, Mergen Alimaganbetov, Anatoly Streltsov

Publications

Observations show that magnetic pulsations with frequencies around 1 mHz are frequently detected simultaneously at different latitudes on the ground, in the inner magnetosphere, and in the solar wind. The coupling between oscillations in the dynamic pressure or magnetic field carried by the solar wind and the ULF waves detected on the ground at high latitudes has been suggested in several studies. We present results from a numerical study of ultra-low-frequency waves detected by the ground magnetometers at middle latitudes during substorm. We investigate the hypothesis that these waves are generated by the ionospheric feedback instability driven by the large-scale …


Comparison Of Mlt Momentum Fluxes Over The Andes At Four Different Latitudinal Sectors Using Multistatic Radar Configurations, J. Federico Conte, Alan Liu, Zishun Qiao, Jorge L. Chau, David C. Fritts, José L. Hormaechea, Jacobo O. Salvador, Marco A. Milla Feb 2022

Comparison Of Mlt Momentum Fluxes Over The Andes At Four Different Latitudinal Sectors Using Multistatic Radar Configurations, J. Federico Conte, Alan Liu, Zishun Qiao, Jorge L. Chau, David C. Fritts, José L. Hormaechea, Jacobo O. Salvador, Marco A. Milla

Publications

The middle atmosphere over South America, particularly above the Andes mountain range, is known as one of the most dynamically active regions in the world. Previous studies have investigated wave dynamics at mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) altitudes within this region, but only a handful of them have made use of continuous measurements provided by specular meteor radars (SMRs). Furthermore, it was only until recently that MLT horizontal wind gradients were estimated for the first time using Spread Spectrum Interferometric Multistatic meteor radar Observing Network (SIMONe) Argentina, a multistatic SMR network located in southern Patagonia. By observing larger amounts of …


Resonant Alfvén Waves In The Lower Auroral Ionosphere: Evidence For The Nonlinear Evolution Of The Ionospheric Feedback Instability, Hassanali Akbari, Anatoly Streltsov, Robert Pfaff, James Clemmons, Henry Freudenreich, Douglas Rowland Jan 2022

Resonant Alfvén Waves In The Lower Auroral Ionosphere: Evidence For The Nonlinear Evolution Of The Ionospheric Feedback Instability, Hassanali Akbari, Anatoly Streltsov, Robert Pfaff, James Clemmons, Henry Freudenreich, Douglas Rowland

Publications

During the “Auroral Jets” experiment from Poker Flat, Alaska on 2 March 2017, two NASA sounding rockets were simultaneously launched into the active auroral ionosphere. The rockets were equipped with instrumentation to measure DC and AC electric fields, magnetic fields, energetic electrons, plasma density, and neutral winds and achieved apogees of 190 and 330 km. A prominent feature of the electric and magnetic field observations is the presence of localized large-amplitude (±40 mV/m and ±100 nT) small-scale (λ⊥∼ 1 km) Alfvén wave structures at altitudes as low as 150 km in the vicinity of up- and down-ward current regions. We …


The Source Of Auroral Omegas, Heidi K. Nykyri, J.M. Weygand, Mostafa El-Alaoui Jan 2022

The Source Of Auroral Omegas, Heidi K. Nykyri, J.M. Weygand, Mostafa El-Alaoui

Publications

The auroral wave-like structures called “omega bands” appear within the post-midnight sector auroral oval with shapes resembling the Greek letter omega, and are typically associated with the recovery phase of substorms. Prior work and MHD simulations suggest both high speed earthward flows and postmidnight flow shears are possible omega band source mechanisms. However, what produces omega bands is not well understood. It is most likely that the paucity of concurrent magnetospheric data has limited our ability to understand fully the mechanism responsible for the generation of the omega bands. We have identified about 263 auroral omegas in seven different THEMIS …