Gravity wave penetration into the thermosphere: sensitivity to solar cycle variations and mean winds

We previously considered various aspects of gravity wave penetration and effects at mesospheric and thermospheric altitudes, including propagation, viscous effects on wave structure, characteristics, and damping, local body forcing, responses to solar cycle temperature variations, and filtering by mean winds. Several of these efforts focused on gravity waves arising from deep convection or in situ body forcing accompanying wave dissipation. Here we generalize these results to a broad range of gravity wave phase speeds, spatial scales, and intrinsic frequencies in order to address all of the major gravity wave sources in the lower atmosphere potentially impacting the thermosphere. We show how penetration altitudes depend on gravity wave phase speed, horizontal and vertical wavelengths, and observed frequencies for a range of thermospheric temperatures spanning realistic solar conditions and winds spanning reasonable mean and tidal amplitudes. Our results emphasize that independent of gravity wave source, thermospheric temperature, and filtering conditions, those gravity waves that penetrate to the highest altitudes have increasing vertical wavelengths and decreasing intrinsic frequencies with increasing altitude. The spatial scales at the highest altitudes at which gravity wave perturbations are observed are inevitably horizontal wavelengths of ~150 to 1000 km and vertical wavelengths of ~150 to 500 km or more, with the larger horizontal scales only becoming important for the stronger Doppler-shifting conditions. Observed and intrinsic periods are typically ~10 to 60 min and ~10 to 30 min, respectively, with the intrinsic periods shorter at the highest altitudes because of preferential penetration of GWs that are up-shifted in frequency by thermospheric winds

Numerical modeling study of the momentum deposition of small amplitude gravity waves in the thermosphere

We study the momentum deposition in the thermosphere from the dissipation of small amplitude gravity waves (GWs) within a wave packet using a fully nonlinear two-dimensional compressible numerical model. The model solves the nonlinear propagation and dissipation of a GW packet from the stratosphere into the thermosphere with realistic molecular viscosity and thermal diffusivity for various Prandtl numbers. The numerical simulations are performed for GW packets with initial vertical wavelengths (&lambda;_<i>z</i>) ranging from 5 to 50 km. We show that &lambda;_<i>z</i> decreases in time as a GW packet dissipates in the thermosphere, in agreement with the ray trace results of Vadas and Fritts (2005) (VF05). We also find good agreement for the peak height of the momentum flux (<i>z</i>_diss) between our simulations and VF05 for GWs with initial &lambda;_<i>z</i> &le; 2&pi; <i>H</i> in an isothermal, windless background, where <i>H</i> is the density scale height. We also confirm that <i>z</i>_diss increases with increasing Prandtl number. We include eddy diffusion in the model, and find that the momentum deposition occurs at lower altitudes and has two separate peaks for GW packets with small initial &lambda;_<i>z</i>. We also simulate GW packets in a non-isothermal atmosphere. The net &lambda;_<i>z</i> profile is a competition between its decrease from viscosity and its increase from the increasing background temperature. We find that the wave packet disperses more in the non-isothermal atmosphere, and causes changes to the momentum flux and &lambda;_<i>z</i> spectra at both early and late times for GW packets with initial &lambda;_<i>z</i> &ge; 10 km. These effects are caused by the increase in <i>T</i> in the thermosphere, and the decrease in <i>T</i> near the mesopause

Secondary Gravity Waves Generated by Breaking Mountain Waves Over Europe

A strong mountain wave, observed over Central Europe on 12 January 2016, is simulated in 2D under two fixed background wind conditions representing opposite tidal phases. The aim of the simulation is to investigate the breaking of the mountain wave and subsequent generation of nonprimary waves in the upper atmosphere. The model results show that the mountain wave first breaks as it approaches a mesospheric critical level creating turbulence on horizontal scales of 8–30 km. These turbulence scales couple directly to horizontal secondary waves scales, but those scales are prevented from reaching the thermosphere by the tidal winds, which act like a filter. Initial secondary waves that can reach the thermosphere range from 60 to 120 km in horizontal scale and are influenced by the scales of the horizontal and vertical forcing associated with wave breaking at mountain wave zonal phase width, and horizontal wavelength scales. Large-scale nonprimary waves dominate over the whole duration of the simulation with horizontal scales of 107–300 km and periods of 11–22 minutes. The thermosphere winds heavily influence the time-averaged spatial distribution of wave forcing in the thermosphere, which peaks at 150 km altitude and occurs both westward and eastward of the source in the 2 UT background simulation and primarily eastward of the source in the 7 UT background simulation. The forcing amplitude is ∼2× that of the primary mountain wave breaking and dissipation. This suggests that nonprimary waves play a significant role in gravity waves dynamics and improved understanding of the thermospheric winds is crucial to understanding their forcing distribution

Gravity Wave and Tidal Influences on Equatorial Spread F Based On Observations During the Spread F Experiment (SpreadFEx)

The Spread F Experiment, or SpreadFEx, was performed from September to November 2005 to define the potential role of neutral atmosphere dynamics, primarily gravity waves propagating upward from the lower atmosphere, in seeding equatorial spread F (ESF) and plasma bubbles extending to higher altitudes. A description of the SpreadFEx campaign motivations, goals, instrumentation, and structure, and an overview of the results presented in this special issue, are provided by Fritts et al. (2008a). The various analyses of neutral atmosphere and ionosphere dynamics and structure described in this special issue provide enticing evidence of gravity waves arising from deep convection in plasma bubble seeding at the bottomside F layer. Our purpose here is to employ these results to estimate gravity wave characteristics at the bottomside F layer, and to assess their possible contributions to optimal seeding conditions for ESF and plasma instability growth rates. We also assess expected tidal influences on the environment in which plasma bubble seeding occurs, given their apparent large wind and temperature amplitudes at these altitudes. We conclude 1) that gravity waves can achieve large amplitudes at the bottomside F layer, 2) that tidal winds likely control the orientations of the gravity waves that attain the highest altitudes and have the greatest effects, 3) that the favored gravity wave orientations enhance most or all of the parameters influencing plasma instability growth rates, and 4) that gravity wave and tidal structures acting together have an even greater potential impact on plasma instability growth rates and plasma bubble seeding

Characteristics of Mesospheric Gravity Waves Near the Magnetic Equator, Brazil, During the SpreadFEx Campaign

As part of the SpreadFEx campaign, coordinated optical and radio measurements were made from Brazil to investigate the occurrence and properties of equatorial Spread F, and to characterize the regional mesospheric gravity wave field. All-sky image measurements were made from two sites: Brasilia and Cariri located ~10° S of the magnetic equator and separated by ~1500 km. In particular, the observations from Brasilia provided key data in relatively close proximity to expected convective sources of the gravity waves. High-quality image measurements of the mesospheric OH emission and the thermospheric OI (630 nm) emission were made during two consecutive new moon periods (22 September to 9 November 2005) providing extensive data on the occurrence and properties of F-region depletions and regional measurements of the dominant gravity wave characteristics at each site