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- ItemInertia gravity waves in the upper troposphere during the MaCWAVE winter campaign - Part I: Observations with collocated radars(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2006) Hoffmann, P.; Serafimovich, A.; Peters, D.; Dalin, P.; Goldberg, R.; Latteck, R.During the {MaCWAVE} campaign, combined rocket, radiosonde and ground-based measurements have been performed at the Norwegian Andøya Rocket Range (ARR) near Andenes and the Swedish Rocket Range (ESRANGE) near Kiruna in January 2003 to study gravity waves in the vicinity of the Scandinavian mountain ridge. The investigations presented here are mainly based on the evaluation of continuous radar measurements with the ALWIN VHF radar in the upper troposphere/ lower stratosphere at Andenes (69.3° N, 16.0° E) and the ESRAD VHF radar near Kiruna (67.9° N, 21.9° E). Both radars are separated by about 260 km. Based on wavelet transformations of both data sets, the strongest activity of inertia gravity waves in the upper troposphere has been detected during the first period from 24–26 January 2003 with dominant vertical wavelengths of about 4–5 km as well as with dominant observed periods of about 13–14 h for the altitude range between 5 and 8 km under the additional influence of mountain waves. The results show the appearance of dominating inertia gravity waves with characteristic horizontal wavelengths of ~200 km moving in the opposite direction than the mean background wind. The results show the appearance of dominating inertia gravity waves with intrinsic periods in the order of ~5 h and with horizontal wavelengths of 200 km, moving in the opposite direction than the mean background wind. From the derived downward energy propagation it is supposed, that these waves are likely generated by a jet streak in the upper troposphere. The parameters of the jet-induced gravity waves have been estimated at both sites separately. The identified gravity waves are coherent at both locations and show higher amplitudes on the east-side of the Scandinavian mountain ridge, as expected by the influence of mountains.
- ItemRocket measurements of positive ions during polar mesosphere winter echo conditions(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2006) Brattli, A.; Blix, T.A.; Lie-Svendsen, Ø.; Hoppe, U.-P.; Lübken, F.-J.; Rapp, M.; Singer, W.; Latteck, R.; Friedrich, M.On 18 January 2005, two small, instrumented rockets were launched from Andøya Rocket Range (69.3° N, 16° E) during conditions with Polar Mesosphere Winter Echoes (PMWE). Each of the rockets was equipped with a Positive Ion Probe (PIP) and a Faraday rotation/differential absorption experiment, and was launched as part of a salvo of meteorological rockets measuring temperature and wind using falling spheres and chaff. Layers of PMWE were detected between 55 and 77 km by the 53.5 MHz ALWIN radar. The rockets were launched during a solar proton event, and measured extremely high ion densities, of order 1010 m−3, in the region where PMWE were observed. The density measurements were analyzed with the wavelet transform technique. At large length scales, ~103 m, the power spectral density can be fitted with a k−3 wave number dependence, consistent with saturated gravity waves. Outside the PMWE layers the k−3 spectrum extends down to approximately 102 m where the fluctuations are quickly damped and disappear into the instrumental noise. Inside the PMWE layers the spectrum at smaller length scales is well fitted with a k−5/3 dependence over two decades of scales. The PMWE are therefore clearly indicative of turbulence, and the data are consistent with the turbulent dissipation of breaking gravity waves. We estimate a lower limit for the turbulent energy dissipation rate of about 10−2 W/kg in the upper (72 km) layer.
- ItemVery low ozone episodes due to polar vortex displacement(Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2000) James, P.M.; Peters, D.; Waugh, D.W.The large-scale ozone distribution over the northern hemisphere undergoes strong fluctuationseach winter on timescales of up to a few weeks. This is closely linked to changes in the stratosphericpolar vortex, whose shape, intensity and location vary with time. Elliptical diagnosticparameters provide an empirical description of the daily character of the polar vortex. Theseparameters are used as an objective measure to define two characteristic wintertime vortexdisplacements, towards northern Europe and Canada, respectively. The large-scale structuresin both the stratosphere and troposphere and the 3D ozone structures are determined for bothvortex displacement scenarios. A linear ozone transport model shows that the contribution ofhorizontal ozone advection dominates locally in the middle stratosphere. Nevertheless, thelargest contribution is due to vertical advection around the ozone layer maximum. The findingsare in agreement with an EOF analysis which reveals significant general modes of ozone variabilitylinked to polar vortex displacement and to phase-shifted large-scale tropospheric waves.When baroclinic waves travel through the regions of vortex-related ozone reduction, the combinedeffect is to produce transient synoptic-scale areas of exceptionally low ozone; namelydynamically induced strong ozone mini-holes.