Mesospheric Bore Observations Using Suomi-NPP VIIRS DNB during 2013–2017

Yucheng Su,William C Straka Ш,Steven D Miller,Shengli Guo,Steven M Smith,Xiao Liu,Jia Yue,Dong Guo

doi:10.3390/rs10121935

Abstract

This paper reports mesospheric bore events observed by Day/Night Band (DNB) of the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NOAA/NASA) Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) environmental satellite over five years (2013–2017). Two types of special mesospheric bore events were observed, enabled by the wide field of view of VIIRS: extremely wide bores (>2000 km extension perpendicular to the bore propagation direction), and those exhibiting more than 15 trailing crests and troughs. A mesospheric bore event observed simultaneously from space and ground was investigated in detail. DNB enables the preliminary global observation of mesospheric bores for the first time. DNB mesospheric bores occurred more frequently in March, April and May. Their typical lengths are between 300 km and 1200 km. The occurrence rate of bores at low latitudes is higher than that at middle latitudes. Among the 61 bore events, 39 events occurred in the tropical region (20°S–20°N). The high occurrence rate of mesospheric bores during the spring months in the tropical region coincides with the reported seasonal and latitudinal variations of mesospheric inversion layers.

Highlights

The Mesospheric bores are unusual atmospheric wave events and are characterized by a propagating sharp front followed by a wave-train or turbulence in the airglow emissions [1]
This paper is organized as follows: in Section 2, we briefly introduce the observational instruments used in this study, highlighting the Day/Night Band (DNB) on Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP)
DNB data under dark illumination conditions and a new moon is of value; that is, solar and lunar zenith angles must be greater than 108◦

Summary

Introduction

The Mesospheric bores are unusual atmospheric wave events and are characterized by a propagating sharp front followed by a wave-train (undular bore) or turbulence (turbulent or foaming bore) in the airglow emissions [1] They divide nightglow into bright and dark regions. The flows can initiate internal bores when they impact on a stable waveguide such as an inversion layer, surrounded above and below by less stable or neutrally stable air [1] This hypothesis was later verified by co-located temperature/wind lidars and airglow imager observations [5,6,7,8,9] and by co-located meteor radars and airglow imager observations [10]. Because mesospheric bores can be ducted for a long horizontal distance, they can potentially transport wave energy and momentum over long horizontal distances with little attenuation

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion