Gravity Wave Breaking Associated with Mesospheric Inversion Layers as Measured by the Ship-Borne BEM Monge Lidar and ICON-MIGHTI

Robin Wing,Alain Hauchecorne,Yann Courcoux,Milena Martic,Patrick Retailleau,Colin Triplett,Jacques Porteneuve,Philippe Keckhut,Dorothee Cocuron,Laurent Yung

doi:10.3390/atmos12111386

Abstract

During a recent 2020 campaign, the Rayleigh lidar aboard the Bâtiment d’Essais et de Mesures (BEM) Monge conducted high-resolution temperature measurements of the upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT). These measurements were used to conduct the first validation of ICON-MIGHTI temperatures by Rayleigh lidar. A double Mesospheric Inversion Layer (MIL) as well as shorter-period gravity waves was observed. Zonal and meridional wind speeds were obtained from locally launched radiosondes and the newly launched ICON satellite as well as from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF-ERA5) reanalysis. These three datasets allowed us to see the evolution of the winds in response to the forcing from the MIL and gravity waves. The wavelet analysis of a case study suggests that the wave energy was dissipated in small, intense, transient instabilities about a given wavenumber in addition to via a broad spectrum of breaking waves. This article will also detail the recent hardware advances of the Monge lidar that have allowed for the measurement of MILs and gravity waves at a resolution of 5 min with an effective vertical resolution of 926 m.

Highlights

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The principal objective of the Bâtiment d’Essais et de Mesures (BEM) Monge Lidar ( referred to by the anglicized abbreviation Advanced Test Range Ship Monge (ATRSM)Lidar, or more as Monge Lidar) is to provide temperature and density profiles with as much accuracy and precision as possible at a given time and location during the reentry phase of a ballistic missile flight [1]
In the case of the temperature profiles calculated for the Monge lidar, the seed pressure altitude was chosen at the point where the signal-to-noise ratio was equal to two in the density profile; we removed the top 15 km of the temperature profile (i.e., Monge temperature profiles with a top altitude of 105 km had a seed pressure taken at 120 km)
Temperatures to Rayleigh lidar temperatures and found good agreement; (3) combined radiosonde, lidar, ERA5, and Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) to create vertical profiles of the temperature and winds from the sea surface to the thermosphere; (4) made a connection between the gradient of the temperature lapse rate and the increase in the gradient wind fields; and (5) reported measurements of small, short-lived, high-energy events shown in a scalogram analysis of lidar temperature perturbations

Summary

Introduction

The principal objective of the Bâtiment d’Essais et de Mesures (BEM) Monge Lidar ( referred to by the anglicized abbreviation Advanced Test Range Ship Monge (ATRSM). More as Monge Lidar) is to provide temperature and density profiles with as much accuracy and precision as possible at a given time and location during the reentry phase of a ballistic missile flight [1]. We can use these high-resolution measurements to study middle atmospheric dynamics. Gravity waves (GWs) and solar tides are the main sources of energy and momentum that drive mesospheric dynamics and circulation. GWs are perturbations in atmospheric density, temperature, and wind speed that are primarily generated from tropospheric sources such as jet streams, orography, convection, and weather systems [2]. The linear theory of GWs, referred to as internal atmospheric buoyancy waves, was laid out by

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion