Optical measurements of winds in the lower thermosphere

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/JA093iA06p05973· OSTI ID:5222842

Wiens, R H; Shepherd, G G; Gault, W A ^[1]; Kosteniuk, P R ^[2]

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1. York Univ., Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
2. Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (Canada)

WAMDII, the wide-angle Michelson Doppler imaging interferometer, was used to measure the neutral wind in the lower thermosphere by the Doppler shift of the O I 557-nm line. Observations were made at Saskatoon (60.5{degree} N invariant) around the spring equinox of 1985 with WAMDII coupled to an all-sky lens. With dopplergrams averaged over 3 to 30 min, no evidence was found for persistent highly localized winds on either of the two nights studied, one viewing only aurora and one viewing only airglow. The nocturnal variation was determined for both nights using average horizontal wind for the whole all-sky image. The pattern for the auroral case shows winds parallel to the aurora orientation in the evening but substantial crosswinds near midnight. High latitude general circulation models seem to represent this case better than local auroral generation models. The airglow case showed eastward winds in the morning sector.

• OSTI ID: 5222842
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research; (United States) Vol. 93:A6; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640200* -- Atmospheric Physics
640201 -- Atmospheric Physics-- Auroral
Ionospheric
& Magetospheric Phenomena
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AIRGLOW
AURORAE
DATA
DOPPLER EFFECT
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
INFORMATION
INTERFEROMETERS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
NUMERICAL DATA
THERMOSPHERE
VARIATIONS
WIND