Altitude-latitude structure of the vertical wind component of the migrating diurnal tide in the range of heights from 80 to 100 km

Abstract

Based on empirical monthly data on the parameters of oscillations in the horizontal wind component of the diurnal migrating tide, we calculated the altitude-latitude distributions of the parameters of oscillations in the vertical wind component of the diurnal tide in the region of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (80–100 km). The initial data were obtained from satellite observations of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere at altitudes from 90 to 120 km and from data of ground-based sounding of this region using the radio meteor method and the method of partial reflections in the altitude range from 80 to 100 km. We compare the resulting distributions with the results of numerical modeling for the migrating diurnal tide using a global circulation model for the middle and upper atmosphere. It is shown that, accurate to measurement errors, there is a good agreement between the distributions of parameters of the migrating diurnal tide obtained by the models. One specific feature of the empirical distributions of the amplitude of the vertical wind oscillations is that there are three regions of increased amplitude values—in the vicinity of the equator and at 30° N and 30° S latitudes—which were observed for all seasons. The maximum value of the amplitude of the vertical wind oscillations is approximately 0.1 m/s. The divergence of the Eliassen-Palm flux was estimated to be on the order of 10 m s−1 day−1.