Tidal Modes Research Articles

Hough Mode Decomposition of the DE3 tide extracted from TIMED observations

Based on the daily DE3 temperature tidal component from Li et al. (2015), which is extracted from the TIMED/SABER observations in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere region (70–108 km altitudes) and at the low-latitude and mid-latitude (45°S–45°N) from 2002 to 2012, we decompose the 1-day resolution tidal component into some orthogonal Hough modes and the climatological (annual and inter-annual variations) and meteorological (day-to-day variability) characteristics of the first two ranks of the Hough modes are presented. The results show that the first four rank of the Hough modes can well reconstruct the latitudinal and altitudinal variation of the daily DE3 tidal component. Wherein, the first symmetric and antisymmetric Hough modes ((3, 3) ＆ (3, 4)) play an important role in the higher altitudes, meanwhile, the second symmetric and anti-symmetric Hough modes ((3, 5) ＆ (3, 6)) mainly contribute in the all altitude range, especially in the lower altitudes. The properties of the large time scale variation of the Hough coefficients are similar to those of previous work, which use the data with 60-day resolution. These properties are that the first symmetric Hough mode (3, 3) presents an obvious annual variation that they are stronger during boreal summer; the relative contribution of the first anti-symmetric Hough mode (3, 4) is much larger during boreal winter. Practically, the higher resolution data were used to reveal the day-to-day variabilities of the DE3 tidal Hough modes. It is found that the first two ranks Hough coefficients all dominate in high altitudes from 100 to 108 km and display an obvious semi-annual variation that they are larger in solstices than that in equinoxes. The day-to-day variability of each rank Hough coefficient may be explained by the variance of the absolute amplitudes and the contribution of the phases. It is found that the contribution from the absolute amplitudes plays an important role in the day-to-day variability of the first rank Hough coefficient; the contributions from the absolute amplitudes and phases are both important to the day-to-day variability of the second rank Hough coefficient.

Final spin states of eccentric ocean planets

Context. Eccentricity tides generate a torque that can drive an ocean planet towards asynchronous rotation states of equilibrium when enhanced by resonances associated with the oceanic tidal modes. Aims. We investigate the impact of eccentricity tides on the rotation of rocky planets hosting a thin uniform ocean and orbiting cool dwarf stars such as TRAPPIST-1, with orbital periods ~1−10 days. Methods. Combining the linear theory of oceanic tides in the shallow water approximation with the Andrade model for the solid part of the planet, we developed a global model including the coupling effects of ocean loading, self-attraction, and deformation of the solid regions. From this model we derive analytic solutions for the tidal Love numbers and torque exerted on the planet. These solutions are used with realistic values of parameters provided by advanced models of the internal structure and tidal oscillations of solid bodies to explore the parameter space both analytically and numerically. Results. Our model allows us to fully characterise the frequency-resonant tidal response of the planet, and particularly the features of resonances associated with the oceanic tidal modes (eigenfrequencies, resulting maxima of the tidal torque, and Love numbers) as functions of the planet parameters (mass, radius, Andrade parameters, ocean depth, and Rayleigh drag frequency). Resonances associated with the oceanic tide decrease the critical eccentricity beyond which asynchronous rotation states distinct from the usual spin-orbit resonances can exist. We provide an estimation and scaling laws for this critical eccentricity, which is found to be lowered by roughly one order of magnitude, switching from ~0.3 to ~0.06 in typical cases and to ~0.01 in extremal ones.

On the evaluation of the phase relation between temperature and wind tides based on ground-based measurements and reanalysis data in the middle atmosphere

Abstract. The variability in the middle atmosphere is driven by a variety of waves covering different spatial and temporal scales. We diagnose the variability in the thermal tides due to changes in the background wind by an adaptive spectral filter, which takes the intermittency of tides into account. We apply this diagnostic to temperature observations from daylight-capable lidar at midlatitudes (54∘ N, 12∘ E) as well as to reanalysis data of horizontal winds from Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). These reanalysis data provide additional wind information in the altitude range between 30 and 70 km at the location of the lidar as well as on a global scale. Using the global data gives information on the tidal modes seen at one location. A comparison of the temperature and wind information affirms whether there is a fixed phase relation of the tidal waves in the temperature and the wind data. We found that in general the local tidal signatures are dominated by migrating tidal modes, and the signature is weaker in temperatures than in winds. While the meridional wind tide leads the zonal wind tide by 90∘, the phase relation between the temperature and the wind tide is more complex. At certain altitudes the temperature tide follows the zonal wind tide. This knowledge helps in improving the interpretation of the seasonal variation in tides from different observables, especially when only data from single locations are used. The findings provide additional information about the phase stability of tidal waves, and the results clearly show the importance of a measurement acquisition on a routine basis with high temporal and spatial resolution.

Real-Time Optimal Scheduling Model for Transit System with Flexible Bus Line Length

We propose a new structured transit system with flexible bus line length based on the real-time requests of passengers. This operation mode can meet the travel demands of passengers (lower travel-time cost) and reduce the number of unnecessary stops (without boarding or alighting activities). We then compare the performance of the proposed transit system with that of fixed-route transit service and show the pros and cons of each system for several passenger demand levels. It is found that at low-to-moderate demand levels, the proposed flexible-route system tends to provide the lowest total travel time. In comparing a real-world deployment of the system in Guangzhou with comparable alternative system states, the optimization of the former is evident in idle and tidal modes, in which the total travel times reduced by more than 10%. Moreover, this operating system can achieve enhanced performance with the development of automated vehicle technology in the future.

Effect of oxygen supply strategy on nitrogen removal of biochar-based vertical subsurface flow constructed wetland: Intermittent aeration and tidal flow

Insufficient dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration is recognized as one of the major factors limiting efficient nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands (CWs). This study investigated four biochar-based vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands (VSFCWs) (system I: intermittent aeration without biochar addition; system II: intermittent aeration with biochar addition; system III: tidal flow without biochar addition; system IV: tidal flow with biochar addition) to compare the effect of oxygen supply strategies on the performance and mechanism of nitrogen removal. The results showed that NH4+N removal efficiencies were 85.83%, 87.88%, 96.19%, and 98.30% for systems I–IV respectively. The abundance of microbes involved in nitrogen transformation also increased in all VSFCWs, particularly in the tidal flow mode with biochar addition. The higher oxygen utilization rate and higher surface area provided by biochar could significantly improve microbial abundance and then enhance nitrogen removal. Most notably, the rate of nitritation (2.92, 3.82, 3.14 and 4.27 mg N L−1 h−1) was higher than that of nitration (0.51, 0.66, 0.83 and 0.89 mg N L−1 h−1) in systems I–IV, respectively, and the percentages of NO2−-N denitrified via simultaneous nitrification denitrification (SND) in systems I–IV were 58.20%, 55.10%, 50.89% and 51.89%, respectively. Therefore, in addition to conventional nitrification denitrification, partial nitrification and SND via NO2−-N were also the significant nitrogen transformation pathways in the four VSFCWs at high DO concentrations (2.43–6.84 mg L−1). These results demonstrated that the tidal flow biochar-based VSFCWs performed well in nitrogen removal due to efficient oxygen supplementation and enhanced microbial community abundance.

VHF Radar Observations of Sea Surface in the Northern Taiwan Strait

Abstract A VHF pulsed radar system was set up on the Taoyuan County seashore (24°57′58″N, 121°00′30″E; Taiwan) to observe the sea surface in the northern Taiwan Strait for the first time. The radar used a four-element, vertically polarized Yagi antenna to transmit the 52-MHz radar wave. The receiving linear array consists of four vertical dipole antennas that were located 3 m apart and attached with four independent and identical receivers. With the multichannel echoes, the direction of arrival (DOA) of the radar echoes were determined by using an optimization beamforming approach—the Capon method. Echo intensity was observed to vary principally in semidiurnal oscillation, which matched well the time series of tide gauge measurements and sea level simulations. In addition, the oscillatory characteristics of Doppler/radial velocity of the VHF radar were generally consistent with that of the HF coastal ocean dynamics applications radar (CODAR) nearby. Nevertheless, the contributions of various tidal modes to the parameters of DOA, echo intensity, radial velocity, and spectral width, varied with the range and time period (e.g., neap or spring tides). For example, the semidiurnal tides governed the variation in the echo center only in the range interval between ~15 and ~25 km from the seashore but dominated other parameters throughout the detectable range. Correlations and phase relationships between these parameters were diverse; they varied with time and had dramatic changes at around the distances of 3 and 10 km. Possible causes of these features were discussed, including sea surface wind, nearshore current, sea level height, and bathymetric effect.

Variability of Martian Turbopause Altitudes

AbstractThe turbopause and homopause represent the transition from strong turbulence and mixing in the middle atmosphere to a molecular‐diffusion‐dominated region in the upper atmosphere. We use neutral densities measured by the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer on the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN spacecraft from February 2015 to October 2016 to investigate the temperature structure and fluctuations of the Martian upper atmosphere. We compare those with temperature measurements of the lower atmosphere from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Mars Climate Sounder. At the lowest Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN altitudes we often observe a statically stable region where waves propagate freely. In contrast, regions from about 20 km up to at least 70 km are reduced in stability where waves are expected to dissipate readily due to breaking/saturation. We derive homopause altitudes from Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer N2 and Ar densities and find that it varies between 60 and 140 km. From the standard deviations in monthly averaged temperature profiles, we determine the wave turbopause altitude where applicable and find that these altitudes agree with the homopause altitudes. We show that the homopause variability is driven by order of magnitude changes in CO2 densities, which drastically affect the altitude at which the eddy diffusion is equal to the molecular diffusion. These variations are observed as a function of local time, latitude, and season. That the turbopause/homopause does not track a fixed density level means that the eddy diffusion coefficient at the turbopause can vary significantly, suggesting differences in the dominant breaking waves and tidal modes.

A stratigraphic investigation of the Celtic Sea megaridges based on seismic and core data from the Irish-UK sectors

The Celtic Sea contains the world's largest continental shelf sediment ridges. These megaridges were initially interpreted as tidal features formed during post-glacial marine transgression, but glacigenic sediments have been recovered from their flanks. We examine the stratigraphy of the megaridges using new decimetric-resolution geophysical data correlated to sediment cores to test hypothetical tidal vs glacial modes of formation. The megaridges comprise three main units, 1) a superficial fining-upward drape that extends across the shelf above an unconformity. Underlying this drape is 2), the Melville Formation (MFm) which comprises the upper bulk of the megaridges, sometimes displaying dipping internal acoustic reflections and consisting of medium to coarse sand and shell fragments; characteristics consistent with either a tidal or glacifluvial origin. The MFm unconformably overlies 3), the Upper Little Sole Formation (ULSFm), previously interpreted to be of late Pliocene to early Pleistocene age, but here shown to correlate to Late Pleistocene glacigenic sediments forming a precursor topography. The superficial drape is interpreted as a product of prolonged wave energy as tidal currents diminished during the final stages of post-glacial marine transgression. We argue that the stratigraphy constrains the age of the MFm to between 24.3 and 14 ka BP, based on published dates, coeval with deglaciation and a modelled period of megatidal conditions during post-glacial marine transgression. Stratigraphically and sedimentologically, the megaridges could represent preserved glacifluvial features, but we suggest that they comprise post-glacial tidal deposits (MFm) mantling a partially-eroded glacial topography (ULSFm). The observed stratigraphy suggests that ice extended to the continental shelf-edge.

A Comparison of Model‐Based Ionospheric and Ocean Tidal Magnetic Signals With Observatory Data

AbstractObserved tidal geomagnetic field variations are due to a combination of electric currents in the ionosphere, ocean, and their induced counterparts. Using these variations to constrain subsurface electrical conductivity in oceanic regions is a promising frontier; however, properly separating the ionospheric and oceanic tidal contributions of the magnetic field is critical for this. We compare semidiurnal lunar tidal magnetic signals (i.e., the signals due to the M2 tidal mode) estimated from 64 global observatories to physics‐based forward models of the ionospheric M2 magnetic field and the oceanic M2 magnetic field. At ground level, predicted ionospheric M2 amplitudes are strongest in the horizontal components, whereas the predicted oceanic amplitudes are strongest in the vertical direction. There is good agreement between the predicted and estimated M2 phases for the Y component; however, the F and X components experience deviations that may be indicative of unmodeled ionospheric processes or unmodeled coastal effects. Overall, we find that the agreement between the physics‐based model predictions and the observations is very encouraging for electromagnetic sensing applications, especially since the predicted ionospheric vertical component is very weak.

New Approach to Estimate Tidal Climatology From Ground‐ and Space‐Based Observations

AbstractThis paper proposes a new approach to obtain seasonal variations of global tides for the horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region, based on daily tides derived from the global coverage of the TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) and the local‐time coverage of a meteor radar chain. The daily variations of different mesosphere and lower thermosphere tides are obtained taking advantage of empirical tidal mode (ETM), which is first derived from Global Scale Wave Model using empirical orthogonal function analysis. ETM displays latitudinal and vertical features of each tidal component in a realistic background atmosphere with dissipation effects. After fitting the observations by ETM day by day, the monthly mean of daily fitted results is then used to describe tidal monthly features. Seasonal variations of three major tidal components were found: DW1 in both zonal and meridional winds usually has two maxima around equinoxes, DE3 in zonal winds achieves their maximum in September, while that in meridional winds becomes strongest in February and November. SW2 in zonal winds reaches largest amplitudes in May in the southern hemisphere, and meridional winds has minor peaks in February and November in the northern hemisphere. At last, we superpose each tidal component with the same frequency to reconstruct the global diurnal and semidiurnal tidal winds. Comparing them with both of TIDI 60‐day average winds and outputs of Global Scale Wave Model model, similar characteristics and magnitudes indicate their consistency and confirm the reliability and feasibility of this new approach.

New results on the mid-latitude midnight temperature maximum

Abstract. Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI) measurements of thermospheric temperatures and winds show the detection and successful determination of the latitudinal distribution of the midnight temperature maximum (MTM) in the continental mid-eastern United States. These results were obtained through the operation of the five FPI observatories in the North American Thermosphere Ionosphere Observing Network (NATION) located at the Pisgah Astronomic Research Institute (PAR) (35.2∘ N, 82.8∘ W), Virginia Tech (VTI) (37.2∘ N, 80.4∘ W), Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) (37.8∘ N, 84.3∘ W), Urbana-Champaign (UAO) (40.2∘ N, 88.2∘ W), and Ann Arbor (ANN) (42.3∘ N, 83.8∘ W). A new approach for analyzing the MTM phenomenon is developed, which features the combination of a method of harmonic thermal background removal followed by a 2-D inversion algorithm to generate sequential 2-D temperature residual maps at 30 min intervals. The simultaneous study of the temperature data from these FPI stations represents a novel analysis of the MTM and its large-scale latitudinal and longitudinal structure. The major finding in examining these maps is the frequent detection of a secondary MTM peak occurring during the early evening hours, nearly 4.5 h prior to the timing of the primary MTM peak that generally appears after midnight. The analysis of these observations shows a strong night-to-night variability for this double-peaked MTM structure. A statistical study of the behavior of the MTM events was carried out to determine the extent of this variability with regard to the seasonal and latitudinal dependence. The results show the presence of the MTM peak(s) in 106 out of the 472 determinable nights (when the MTM presence, or lack thereof, can be determined with certainty in the data set) selected for analysis (22 %) out of the total of 846 nights available. The MTM feature is seen to appear slightly more often during the summer (27 %), followed by fall (22 %), winter (20 %), and spring (18 %). Also seen is a northwestward propagation of the MTM signature with a latitude-dependent amplitude. This behavior suggests either a latitudinal dependence of thermosphere tidal dissipation or a night-to-night variation of the composition of the higher-order tidal modes that contribute to the production of the MTM peak at mid-latitudes. Also presented in this paper is the perturbation on the divergence of the wind fields, which is associated with the passage of each MTM peak analyzed with the 2-D interpolation. Keywords. Ionosphere (mid-latitude ionosphere)

Galaxy power-spectrum responses and redshift-space super-sample effect

As a major source of cosmological information, galaxy clustering is susceptible to long-wavelength density and tidal fluctuations. These long modes modulate the growth and expansion rate of local structures, shifting them in both amplitude and scale. These effects are often named the growth and dilation effects, respectively. In particular the dilation shifts the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) peak and breaks the assumption of the Alcock-Paczynski (AP) test. This cannot be removed with reconstruction techniques because the effect originates from long modes outside the survey. In redshift space, the long modes generate a large-scale radial peculiar velocity that affects the redshift-space distortion (RSD) signal. We compute the redshift-space response functions of the galaxy power spectrum to long density and tidal modes at leading order in perturbation theory, including both the growth and dilation terms. We validate these response functions against measurements from simulated galaxy mock catalogs. As one application, long density and tidal modes beyond the scale of a survey correlate various observables leading to an excess error known as the super-sample covariance, and thus weaken their constraining power. We quantify the super-sample effect on BAO, AP, and RSD measurements, and study its impact on current and future surveys.

Dissipation in a tidally perturbed body librating in longitude

Internal dissipation in a tidally perturbed librating body differs in several respects from the tidal dissipation in a steadily spinning rotator. First, libration changes the spectral distribution of tidal damping across the tidal modes, as compared to the case of steady spin. This changes both the tidal heating rate and the tidal torque. Second, while a non-librating rotator experiences alternating deformation only due to the potential force exerted on it by the perturber, a librating body is also subject to a toroidal force proportional to the angular acceleration. Third, while the centrifugal force in a steadily spinning body renders only a permanent deformation (which defines the oblateness when the body cools down), in a librating body this force contains two alternating components—one purely radial, another a degree-2 potential force. Both contribute to heating, as well as to the tidal torque and potential (and, thereby, to the orbital evolution).We develop a formalism needed to describe dissipation in a homogeneous terrestrial body performing small-amplitude libration in longitude. This formalism incorporates as its part a linear rheological law defining the response of the rotator’s material to forcing. While the developed formalism can work with an arbitrary linear rheology, we consider a simple example of a Maxwell material.We demonstrate that, independent of the rheology, forced libration in longitude can provide a considerable and even leading—and sometimes overwhelming—input in the tidal heating. Based on the observed parameters, this input amounts to 52% in Phobos, 33% in Mimas, 23% in Enceladus, and 96% in Epimetheus. This supports the hypothesis by Makarov and Efroimsky (2014) that the additional tidal damping due to forced libration may have participated in the early heating up of some of the large moons. As one possibility, such a moon could have been chipped by collisions—whereby it acquired a higher permanent triaxiality and, therefore, a higher forced-libration magnitude and, consequently, a higher heating rate. After the moon warms up, its permanent triaxiality decreases, and so does the tidal heating rate.

Application of Manley‐Rowe Relation in Analyzing Nonlinear Interactions Between Planetary Waves and the Solar Semidiurnal Tide During 2009 Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event

AbstractUpper mesospheric winds observed by the Svalbard specular meteor radar (16.01°E,78.16°N) are analyzed to study the tidal variabilities during the 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW). We report a textbook case of nonlinear interactions between planetary waves (PWs) and the SW2 tide (SWm denotes semidiurnal westward propagating tidal mode with zonal wave number m). The Lomb‐Scargle algorithm, bispectrum, wavelet spectra, and Manley‐Rowe relations are combined to explore the frequency match, phase coherence, energy budget, and wave number relations among the interacting waves and their temporal evolution. Our results suggest that (1) 5, 10, 16 day PW normal modes interact with SW2 generating significant sidebands (S2Ss) at frequencies lower and higher than SW2, known as SW1 and SW3 enhancements, respectively; (2) SW2 is the main energy supplier for both SW1 and SW3, hence shrinks in the interactions; (3) whereas the PWs export relatively negligible energy to SW3 but accept energy from SW2 in generating SW1, therefore, the PWs is not subject to the interactions but controlled by external dynamics, which might in turn act as a key in switching on/off the SW1 and SW3 interactions independently; (4) the SW1 enhancement could be explained as a byproduct of the planetary wave amplification by stimulated tidal decay (PASTIDE); (5) PASTIDE contributes energy to the secondary PW in the late SSW stage reported in previous studies; and (6) one SW1 component associated with the 16 day PW is very close to the semidiurnal lunar mode in frequency, which might contaminate the estimation of the lunar tidal amplification in previous studies.

The afternoon counter-electrojet current system along the 75\xb0E meridian during the IEEY

In the present study, the technique of principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to analyze the hourly mean values of geomagnetic field components D, H, and Z along an Indo-Russian chain of stations during the International Equatorial Electrojet Year (IEEY) from January 1992 to June 1993. This technique (PCA) is found to be suitable for separating the normal electrojet (NEJ) and counter-electrojet (CEJ) variations, and the first two principal components (PCs) are able to describe the characteristics of NEJ- and CEJ-related field variations. It is found that the first principal component (PC-1) for H, D, and Z varies as a function of time with latitude and depicts the well-known Sq variations, whereas PC-2(H) does not show any variations at all latitudes during NEJ days. On CEJ days, PC-2(H) shows a large negative excursion at equatorial stations (KAN to BAN). The NEJ- and CEJ-related current systems are determined by combining the hourly inequalities in D and H. PC-1 brings out a well-defined anticlockwise loop for NEJ days, with its focus near the dip latitude (~35°N), and a clockwise loop for CEJ days with a well-defined focus near the dip latitude (~20°N) around noon local time. The CEJ-related current system is marked by intense westward current flow in the equatorial belt and is shown to close its path by forming a clockwise loop extending from the dip equator to midlatitudes. Comparison with a numerically simulated current system, caused by various tidal modes, emphasizes the significance of antisymmetric semidiurnal tidal modes in the generation of CEJ events.Graphical abstract.

Tides in a body librating about a spin–orbit resonance: generalisation of the Darwin–Kaula theory

The Darwin-Kaula theory of bodily tides is intended for celestial bodies rotating without libration. We demonstrate that this theory, in its customary form, is inapplicable to a librating body. Specifically, in the presence of libration in longitude, the actual spectrum of Fourier tidal modes differs from the conventional spectrum rendered by the Darwin-Kaula theory for a non-librating celestial object. This necessitates derivation of formulae for the tidal torque and the tidal heating rate, that are applicable under libration. We derive the tidal spectrum for longitudinal forced libration with one and two main frequencies, generalisation to more main frequencies being straightforward. (By main frequencies we understand those emerging due to the triaxiality of the librating body.) Separately, we consider a case of free libration at one frequency (once again, generalisation to more frequencies being straightforward). We also calculate the tidal torque. This torque provides correction to the triaxiality-caused physical libration. Our theory is not self-consistent: we assume that the tidal torque is much smaller than the permanent-triaxiality-caused torque; so the additional libration due to tides is much weaker than the main libration due to the permanent triaxiality. Finally, we calculate the tidal dissipation rate in a body experiencing forced libration at the main mode, or free libration at one frequency, or superimposed forced and free librations.

Global tidal mapping from observations of a radar campaign

Based on the one-month (October, 2014) wind observations of 11 radars distributed in both hemispheres along the 120°E meridian during a radar campaign, this article reports on improvements of the tidal mapping technique proposed before (Yu et al., 2013) by extending the latitude coverage to the global scale (from pole to pole). We first present the tidal components decomposed from the wind observations at different stations. It is revealed that the tidal components are stronger at stations in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. Then, Hough mode decomposition is performed to extract the contributions of different tidal modes for each decomposed tidal component. The expected dominant mode, (1, 1) mode, is the strongest. The trapped (1, −2) mode also contributes a lot to the diurnal component. Yet for the semidiurnal component, (2, 4) mode along with (2, 5) mode make considerable contributions. In contrast, (3, 5) mode has the strongest amplitude for the terdiurnal component. At last, the tidal mapping technique proposed before is improved to get the pole-to-pole structure of each tidal component, based on the extracted tidal modes. The mapped tidal components successfully construct the general latitudinal and altitudinal distributions, compared with the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) observations and Global Scale Wave Model (GSWM-09) results. Comparison of the predicted and observed tidal wind (for example, at Wuhan Station) indicates the capability of the mapping technique for reproducing the local time and altitude variations of the original observations.

Satellites testing general relativity: Residuals versus perturbations

Laser ranging satellites have proved their efficiency for high precision testing of the effect of frame-dragging, one of the remarkable predictions of General Relativity. The analysis of the randomness properties of the residuals of LAGEOS and LAGEOS 2 satellites reveals the role of the thermal thrust — Yarkovsky effect — on the satellite which was in the orbit for longer period (LAGEOS). We also compute Earth’s tidal modes affecting the satellite LARES. The recently obtained 5% accuracy limit reached for the frame dragging effect based on the 3.5 year data of LARES analyzed together with those of LAGEOS satellites and using the Earth gravity model of GRACE satellite, is also represented.

MIPAS observations of longitudinal oscillations in the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere: climatology of odd-parity daily frequency modes

Abstract. MIPAS global Sun-synchronous observations are almost fixed in local time. Subtraction of the descending and ascending node measurements at each longitude only includes the longitudinal oscillations with odd daily frequencies nodd from the Sun's perspective at 10:00. Contributions from the background atmosphere, daily-invariant zonal oscillations and tidal modes with even-parity daily frequencies vanish. We have determined longitudinal oscillations in MIPAS temperature with nodd and wavenumber k = 0–4 from the stratosphere to 150 km from April 2007 to March 2012. To our knowledge, this is the first time zonal oscillations in temperature have been derived pole to pole in this altitude range from a single instrument. The major findings are the detection of (1) migrating tides at northern and southern high latitudes; (2) significant k = 1 activity at extratropical and high latitudes, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere; (3) k = 3 and k = 4 eastward-propagating waves that penetrate the lower thermosphere with a significantly larger vertical wavelength than in the mesosphere; and (4) a migrating tide quasi-biennial oscillation in the stratosphere, mesosphere and lower thermosphere. MIPAS global measurements of longitudinal oscillations are useful for testing tide modeling in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region and as a lower boundary for models extending higher up in the atmosphere.

A study of sea level variability and its long-term trend in the South China Sea

On the basis of the satellite maps of sea level anomaly (MSLA) data and in situ tidal gauge sea level data, correlation analysis and empirical mode decomposition (EMD) are employed to investigate the applicability of MSLA data, sea level correlation, long-term sea level variability (SLV) trend, sea level rise (SLR) rate and its geographic distribution in the South China Sea (SCS). The findings show that for Dongfang Station, Haikou Station, Shanwei Station and Zhapo Station, the minimum correlation coefficient between the closest MSLA grid point and tidal station is 0.61. This suggests that the satellite altimeter MSLA data are effective to observe the coastal SLV in the SCS. On the monthly scale, coastal SLV in the western and northern part of SCS are highly associated with coastal currents. On the seasonal scale, SLV of the coastal area in the western part of the SCS is still strongly influenced by the coastal current system in summer and winter. The Pacific change can affect the SCS mainly in winter rather than summer and the affected area mostly concentrated in the northeastern and eastern parts of the SCS. Overall, the average SLR in the SCS is 90.8 mm with a rising rate of (5.0±0.4) mm/a during 1993–2010. The SLR rate from the southern Luzon Strait through the Huangyan Seamount area to the Xisha Islands area is higher than that of other areas of the SCS.