Abstract
Abstract. Zonal winds in the stratosphere and mesosphere play important roles in atmospheric dynamics and aeronomy. However, the direct measurement of winds in this height range is difficult. We present a dataset of the monthly mean zonal wind in the height range of 18–100 km and at latitudes of 50∘ S–50∘ N from 2002 to 2019, derived by the gradient balance wind theory and the temperature and pressure observed by the SABER instrument. The tide alias above 80 km at the Equator is replaced by the monthly mean zonal wind measured by a meteor radar at 0.2∘ S. The dataset (named BU) is validated by comparing with the zonal wind from MERRA2 (MerU), UARP (UraU), the HWM14 empirical model (HwmU), meteor radar (MetU), and lidar (LidU) at seven stations from around 50∘ N to 29.7∘ S. At 18–70 km, BU and MerU have (i) nearly identical zero wind lines and (ii) year-to-year variations of the eastward and westward wind jets at middle and high latitudes, and (iii) the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and semi-annual oscillation (SAO) especially the disrupted QBO in early 2016. The comparisons among BU, UraU, and HwmU show good agreement in general below 80 km. Above 80 km, the agreements among BU, UraU, HwmU, MetU, and LidU are good in general, except some discrepancies at limited heights and months. The BU data are archived as netCDF files and are available at https://doi.org/10.12176/01.99.00574 (Liu et al., 2021). The advantages of the global BU dataset are its large vertical extent (from the stratosphere to the lower thermosphere) and 18-year internally consistent time series (2002–2019). The BU data is useful to study the temporal variations with periods ranging from seasons to decades at 50∘ S–50∘ N. It can also be used as the background wind for atmospheric wave propagation.
Highlights
Zonal mean zonal wind in the middle and upper atmosphere is critical to the propagation and dissipation of atmospheric waves while the waves propagate against or along the zonal winds (Forbes, 1995; Fritts and Alexander, 2003)
We present a dataset of the monthly mean zonal wind in the height range of [18–100] km and at latitudes of 50◦ S–50◦ N from 2002 to 2019, derived by the gradient balance wind theory and the temperature and pressure observed by the SABER instrument
To validate the BU derived from the SABER observations and modified by meteor radar wind observations near the Equator, we will compare the BU with (i) monthly mean zonal winds from MERRA2 data (MerU), (ii) the UARP wind (UarU) and the zonal wind calculated from HWM14, and (iii) the zonal winds observed by meteor radars (MetU) at latitudes of 29.7◦ S–53.5◦ N and an Na lidar (LidU) at 40.6◦ N
Summary
Zonal mean zonal wind in the middle and upper atmosphere is critical to the propagation and dissipation (via filtering or prohibiting) of atmospheric waves (e.g., gravity waves, tides, and planetary waves) while the waves propagate against or along the zonal winds (Forbes, 1995; Fritts and Alexander, 2003). The Michelson Interferometer for Global High-Resolution Thermospheric Imaging (MIGHTI) onboard the ICON satellite has two identical sensor units, MIGHTI-A and MIGHTI-B, which can be used to retrieve temperature at [90–115] km and line-ofsight winds and the vector winds at [90–300] km (Englert et al, 2017; Harding et al, 2017; Stevens et al, 2018) These ground-based and satellite observations and rocket soundings are useful to construct empirical wind models, such as the COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA-86) (Fleming et al, 1990), the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM) (Drob et al, 2008, 2015; Emmert et al, 2008), and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Reference Atmosphere Project (URAP) wind climatology (Swinbank and Ortland, 2003). The interactions among SAO, AO, QBO, and ENSO are important in modulating global atmospheric waves and composition from the stratosphere to the lower thermosphere (e.g., Xu et al, 2009; Liu et al, 2017; Diallo et al, 2018; Ern et al, 2011, 2014, 2021; Kawatani et al, 2020)
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