Structure of the Upper Atmosphere.
Abstract
Initial efforts during the 4-year period of this grant involved investigations of the seasonal-latitudinal structure of the diurnal thermospheric tide and the thermospheric extensions of semidiurnal tides excited below 100 Km using a numerical model which realistically simulates dissipative processes. This work, combined with a calculation of the in-situ semidiurnal thermospheric tide, led to construction of a synthesized model of diurnal and semidiurnal temperatures and winds calibrated with incoherent scatter radar observations. This model was subsequently utilized to investigate tidal variations in thermospheric composition and the generation of electric fields and currents due to dynamo action in the E region. A rotating plane equivalent gravity wave formalism was also developed to more efficiently compute thermospheric tidal structures, and utilized to investigate the damping effect of O-N(2) mutual diffusion on thermospheric tides, and the mutual coupling between tides and turbulence in the mesosphere. Work under this grant formed an important contribution to a comprehensive review of theoretical studies of atmospheric tides written for Review of Geophysics and Space Physics in 1979. Finally, significant effects of tidal variations in temperature and density on the hydrated positive ion chemistry of the D region have been discovered, thus explaining some important aspects of the asymmetric and seasonal-latitudinal behavior of the D region.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA098061
Entities
People
- Jeffrey M. Forbes
Organizations
- Boston College