Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1777383 | Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics | 2010 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
Mesopause region temperature measurements made with a sodium resonance lidar show two unexpected features: (1) Strong positive temperature gradients are often associated with strong gradients in the sodium concentration and (2) positive temperature gradients are generally much stronger than negative ones. Although the structures we see frequently appear to be associated with gravity waves or tides, the asymmetrical temperature oscillations cannot be explained as the result of simple wave propagation. We suggest that strong positive temperature gradients correspond to regions of high atmospheric stability, where eddy diffusion is inhibited, permitting the build-up of strong gradients in temperature and minor constituent mixing ratio.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geophysics
Authors
Barclay Clemesha, Dale Simonich, Paulo Batista,