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Winds at the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have been measured by partial reflection radars and specular meteor radars for almost two decades (2004-2022) over Germany and Norway (i.e., middle and high latitudes, respectively). Continuous wind measurements during the mentioned period are important to understand their long-term behavior. The zonal mean wind climatology displays an eastward wind during the winter months and a westward summer jet below ~85km at middle latitudes (~90km at high latitudes). Above the mentioned height, an eastward wind jet is observed. In the meridional wind component, the southward summer wind displays amplitudes between 4 and 5 times less intense than the westward jet. We studied the intensity of the summer wind components, the long-term variability and the possible connection to external forcing (i.e. El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and quasi-biennial oscillation, solar activity and geomagnetic activity). Analyzing the summer winds for low and high geomagnetic activity classified with the Ap index, there is a significant difference between both cases suggesting disturbances in the wind due to high geomagnetic activity. The long-term study shows significant trends at middle latitudes in the monthly summer values of the westward summer jet. As a consequence of the increase in the westward wind, a decrease in the southward component is observed at the same latitudes. While at high latitudes the eastward jet shows a decreasing velocity during July.

This study uses ground-based recordings of low-frequency, inaudible acoustic waves (infrasound) to probe the wind and temperature fluctuations associated with internal gravity waves breaking in the middle atmosphere. Building on the approach introduced by Chunchuzov et al., the recorded waveforms are used to retrieve the effective sound speed fluctuations in an inhomogeneous atmospheric layer of infrasound backscattering. The retrieval procedure was applied to infrasound from controlled blasts related to the disposal of military explosives in Hukkakero, Finland and recorded at the IS37 station in Norway over a four-year period from 2014 to 2017. Our findings indicate that infrasound scattering occurs in the lower mesosphere between 50 and 75 km in altitude in a region where gravity waves interact due to strong nonlinear effects and form thin layers with strong wind shears. The retrieved effective sound speed fluctuations were then analysed in terms of the vertical wave number spectra. The analysis revealed that the spectra follow a kz–3 power law that corresponds to the "universal" saturated spectrum of atmospheric gravity waves within kz ∈ [2.1·10–3; 2.7·10–2] cycles/m. Based on this wavenumber range, we estimate the outer and inner vertical scale of atmospheric inhomogeneities that infrasound is sensitive to as Linner= 33 – 37 m, Louter = 382 – 625 m. Furthermore, the spectra of the retrieved effective sound speed fluctuations were compared to theoretical linear and nonlinear gravity wave saturation theories as well as to independent wind measurements made by the Saura MF radar near the Andøya Space Center in Norway. The comparison showed a good agreement in terms of the amplitude and slopes of the vertical wavenumber spectra in both cases. The overall agreement allows us to suggest that the Saura radar and infrasound-based effective sound speed profiles represent the low- and high-wavenumber regimes of the same "universal" gravity wave spectrum. These results illustrate that the use of infrasound makes it possible to probe fine-scale motions that are not well captured by other techniques. The latter suggests that infrasound observations can be used as a complementary technique to probe internal gravity waves in the middle- and upper atmosphere.

We present a scaling analysis for the stratified turbulent and small-scale turbulent regimes of atmospheric flow with emphasis on the mesosphere. We distinguish rotating-stratified macroturbulence turbulence (SMT), stratified turbulence (ST), and small-scale isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence (KT), and we specify the length and time scales and the characteristic velocities for these regimes. It is shown that the buoyancy scale (Lb) and the Ozmidov scale (Lo) are the main parameters that describe the transition from SMT to KT. We employ the buoyancy Reynolds number and horizontal Froude number to characterize ST and KT in the mesosphere. This theory is applied to simulation results from a high-resolution general circulation model with a Smagorinsky-type turbulent diffusion scheme for the subgrid-scale parameterization. The model allows us to derive the turbulent root-mean-square (rms) velocity in the KT regime. It is found that the turbulent RMS velocity has a single maximum in summer and a double maximum in winter months. The secondary maximum in the winter MLT we associate with a secondary gravity wave–breaking phenomenon. The turbulent rms velocity results from the model agree well with full correlation analyses based on MF-radar measurements. A new scaling for the mesoscale horizontal velocity based on the idea of direct energy cascade in mesoscales is proposed. The latter findings for mesoscale and small-scale characteristic velocities support the idea proposed in this research that mesoscale and small-scale dynamics in the mesosphere are governed by SMT, ST, and KT in the statistical average. Significance Statement Mesoscale dynamics in the middle atmosphere, which consists of atmospheric turbulence and gravity waves, remains a complex problem for atmospheric physics and climate studies. Due to its high nonlinearity, the mesoscale dynamics together with the small-scale turbulence is the primary source of uncertainties and biases in high-altitude general circulation models (GCM) in the middle atmosphere. We use the stratified turbulence theory and the gravity wave–resolving GCM to characterize different scaling regimes and to define various length, time, and velocity scales, that are relevant for the mesoscale and small-scale dynamical regimes. Our results highlight the importance of stratified turbulence in the mesosphere and lower-thermosphere region.

The bottom part of the earth’s ionosphere is the so-called D-region, which is typically less intense than the upper regions. Despite the comparably lower electron number density, the ionization state of the D-region has a significant influence on signal absorption for propagating lower to medium radio frequencies. We present local noon climatologies of electron number density in the middle atmosphere at high latitudes as observed by an active radar experiment. The radar measurements cover nine years from the solar maximum of cycle 24 to the beginning of cycle 25. Reliable electron densities are derived by employing signal processing, applying interferometry methods, and the Faraday International Reference Ionosphere (FIRI) model. For all years a consistent spring-autumn asymmetry of the electron number density pattern as well as a sharp decrease at the beginning of October was found. These findings are consistent with VLF studies showing equivalent signatures for nearby propagation paths. It has been suggested that the meridional circulation associated with downwelling in winter could cause enhanced electron densities through NO transport. However, this mechanism lacks to explain the reduction in electron density in early October.

This study uses low-frequency, inaudible acoustic waves (infrasound) to probe wind and temperature fluctuations associated with breaking gravity waves in the middle atmosphere. Building on an approach introduced by Chunchuzov et al., infrasound recordings are used to retrieve effective sound-speed fluctuations in an inhomogeneous atmospheric layer that causes infrasound backscattering. The infrasound was generated by controlled blasts at Hukkakero, Finland and recorded at the IS37 infrasound station, Norway in the late summers 2014 - 2017. Our findings indicate that the analyzed infrasound scattering occurs at mesospheric altitudes of 50 - 75 km, a region where gravity waves interact under non-linearity, forming thin layers of strong wind shear. The retrieved fluctuations were analyzed in terms of vertical wave number spectra, resulting in approximate kz-3 power law that corresponds to the “universal“ saturated spectrum of atmospheric gravity waves. The kz-3 power law wavenumber range corresponds to vertical atmospheric scales of 33 - 625 m. The fluctuation spectra were compared to theoretical gravity wave saturation theories as well as to independent wind measurements by the Saura medium-frequency radar near Andøya Space Center around 100 km west of IS37, yielding a good agreement in terms of vertical wavenumber spectrum amplitudes and slopes. This suggests that the radar and infrasound-based effective sound-speed profiles represent low- and high-wavenumber regimes of the same “universal“ gravity wave spectrum. The results illustrate that infrasound allows for probing fine-scale dynamics not well captured by other techniques, suggesting that infrasound can provide a complementary technique to probe atmospheric gravity waves.

Polar mesosphere winter echoes (PMWE) are relatively strong radar returns which are regularly observed by mesosphere/stratosphere/troposphere (MST) radars at high latitudes in winter. A sounding rocket project PMWE aimed at investigation of this phenomenon by means of high resolution in situ measurements of all the relevant parameters inside and around the volume probed by the MAARSY radar. Two sounding rocket campaigns were conducted at the Andøya Space (AS, 69 °N, 16 °E) in April 2018 and October 2021, respectively. Two instrumented sounding rockets were launched during each rocket campaing. Both EISCAT in Tromsø and SAURA radar located near the launch site were running throughout the campaign periods. RMR-lidar successfully measured temperature and wind fields on the day of rocket launches in October 2021. In this paper we give an overview and some details of the measurements conducted during the two rocket campaigns and discuss first results.

Sporadic E (Es) is a thin layer of metallic ion plasma that forms in the E region of the Earth’s ionosphere, mostly between 90 and 125 km. It can affect the radio frequencies in the HF range of up to 30 MHz. In the mid-latitudes, the wind shear mechanism causes the formation of the Es layers. In general, solar forcing primarily controls changes in the E layer. On the other hand, the formation of the mid-latitude Es layer is driven by the wind shear associated with lower atmosphere originated wave activities. Since the formation of the Es layer is caused by the lower atmospheric forcing, it can be used as a tracer to estimate the lower atmospheric impact on the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (UMLT). Therefore, the study of the long-term changes and trends (if any) in the E and Es layers will throw some light on the effect of the lower atmosphere and solar forcing on the UMLT region.In the present study, we investigate the long-term variation and trends in the E region, using sixty-three years of continuous ionosonde observations over Juliusruh (54.6° N 13.4° E), Europe. Before the trend analysis, predominant long-term variations are estimated using the Lomb-Scargle periodogram analysis. We found that the annual and solar cycle oscillations are strongly present in both foE and foEs. In addition, a weak semi-annual oscillation is also noted in the foE. Furthermore, the model time series data of foE and foEs is created using the period and amplitude of the predominant oscillations. Then, the residual value of foE and foEs is calculated by subtracting the model values from the observation. By using the least square fit analysis, the trend is estimated. Interestingly, weak negative trends in the foE and foEs are found. The plausible causative mechanism for the observed trends will be detailed in the presentation.

We explore the spectral characteristics of the horizontal and vertical wind fluctuations, in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, using the Middle Atmosphere Alomar Radar System (MAARSY) during the years 2017-2020 over Andøya, Norway (69.30°N, 16.04°E). The power spectral density covers a broad frequency range of 3.5 d-1 > f > 1 h-1. The power spectra are categorized in different ranges: two frequency ranges (lower and higher than (13 h)-1), four altitude ranges (lower troposphere, middle troposphere, tropopause region, and lower stratosphere), and four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter). We investigated the power-law S(f) ∝ fβ through a least-squares regression. Our results demonstrate that (i) the spectra of the horizontal winds follow a power-law with slopes of about β = -5/3 (at high-frequency), and β = -2 (at low-frequency), respectively, and the slope steepens vertically around the tropopause and seasonally during the summer, and (ii) the slope β in the vertical wind is shallow β > -1, which flattens with altitude. The momentum flux and vertical wind variance exhibit seasonal and altitudinal variations, both of which minimize in summer and maximize at the lower troposphere. The probable reason for such variation will be discussed in the presentation.