Search

Abstract: Results of HF diagnostics of traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) over the Antarctic Peninsula are presented that have been obtained in the frequency-and-angular sounding technique developed at the Institute of Radio Astronomy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kharkov, Ukraine). A specially designed HF transmitter was deployed at the Polish Antarctic station Henryk Arctowski to radiate probe signals. Variations in trajectory parameters (angles of arrival and Doppler frequency shifts) of the probe signals used for recovering TID characteristics were recorded at the Ukrainian Antarctic station Akademik Vernadsky with a compact-size three-channel coherent receiver based on the Doppler interferometry technique. The propagation path length was approximately 440km. Round-the-clock measurements were performed between 31 January and 16 March, 2004 at frequencies 5 to 7MHz, depending on the ionospheric conditions. The total time of observations was about 1000h. Results of preliminary processing of the measured data are reported. Characteristic parameters of the disturbances are presented and possible sources of their generation are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This work presents an analysis of spectra and estimations of zonal wavenumbers for mean wind and semidiurnal tide amplitude oscillations observed during July–September 1998 by 3 meteor radars and one MF radar. A number of mean wind and tidal amplitude oscillations are found that are possibly related to the evolution of the summer mesospheric zonal wind jet. The mean zonal wind undergoes several significant variations (“transitions”) during this time interval. These changes were accompanied by a frequency decreasing of the QTDW (quasi-2-day wave) in such a way that oscillations with a period of roughly about 36–44h at the beginning of the measurements were replaced by strong 48-h waves, which in its turn after the end of the QTDW burst are replaced by a set of 3–6 day oscillations. Before the strong 48-h wave appearance we observe mean zonal wind variations with a temporal scale of 4 days. The set of 3–6 days includes 3–4 day waves with and 5–6 day waves with . The last wave is absent in the upper stratosphere during the time of observations and suggests to appear in the mesosphere. The both waves could represent a signature of the simultaneous non-linear excitation of a triad of waves. The zonal wind “transitions” also reflected in the semidiurnal tide by modulations of the tidal amplitudes with periods of 3–4 days and about 5 days. Some features observed at the end of summer 1998 could be explained by interaction between a zonally averaged wind variation and the semidiurnal tide. In a spectral representation, this variation looks like an oscillation, but is not a planetary wave. The strongest long-period modulations of the semidiurnal tide were observed during strong geopotential perturbations in the stratosphere of the Southern hemisphere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A network of 15 northern hemisphere radars has been used to measure horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere during the PSMOS campaign of Summer 1999. The radars are sited at latitudes ranging from 21°N to 75°N and longitudes from 142°E to 157°W. The data were examined to investigate the Northern Hemisphere structure of the quasi-2-day planetary wave during the interval June–August. The amplitude of the 2-day wave was found to exhibit great day-to-day variability. In particular, significant periodic fluctuations in amplitude occurred with periods of 8–10 and 14–17 days. These modulations were strongest in July and largely absent in June and August. In July, the wave activity can be resolved into three westward-propagating waves with zonal wave numbers of 2, 3 and 4. The periods associated with these wave numbers were 53–56, 48–50 and 42–43 h, respectively. The simultaneous presence of at least two spectral components with periods close to each other may serve to explain the observed amplitude modulations as a result of a beating between different spectral components. An earlier analysis of the planetary-wave field during this interval has revealed a westward propagating ∼16-day wave with zonal wave number 1 (Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 64 (2002b) 1865–1896). A non-linear interaction between this ∼16-day planetary wave and the (3,0) Rossby-gravity mode (the 2-day-wave) provides a possible mechanism to generate the above ∼42 h/wavenumber 4 wave and the ∼55 h/wavenumber 2 waves as sum and difference secondary waves. A bispectral analysis was used to further investigate non-linear interactions between members of the planetary-wave field and suggested a number of interactions occur within the planetary-wave field, but that some of the interactions also involve the non-migrating diurnal tide with zonal wavenumber 6. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]