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Two consecutive mesospheric bores were observed simultaneously by two all-sky cameras on 19 December 2006. The observations were carried out in the northeast of Brazil at two different stations: São João do Cariri (36.5° W, 7.4° S) and Monteiro (37.1° W, 7.9° S), which are by about 85 km apart. The mesospheric bores were observed within an interval of ∼ 3 h in the NIR OH and OI557.7 nm airglow emissions. Both bores propagated to the east and showed similar characteristics. However, the first one exhibited a dark leading front with several trailing waves behind and progressed into a brighter airglow region, while the second bore, observed in the OH layer, was comprised of several bright waves propagating into a darker airglow region. This is the first paper to report events like these, called twin mesospheric bores. The background of the atmosphere during the occurrence of these events was studied by considering the temperature profiles from the TIMED/SABER satellite and wind from a meteor radar.

Short-period gravity waves of especially-small horizontal scale have been observed in the Maui, Hawaii airglow. Typical small-scale gravity wave events have been investigated, and intrinsic wave propagation characteristics have been calculated from simultaneous meteor radar wind measurements. Here we report specific cases where wave structure is significantly determined by the local wind structure, and where wave characteristics are consistent with ducted or evanescent waves throughout the mesopause region. Two of the documented events, exhibiting similar airglow signatures but dramatically different propagation conditions, are selected for simple numerical modeling case studies. First, a Doppler-ducted wave trapped within relatively weak wind flow is examined. Model results confirm that the wave is propagating in the 85–95 km region, trapped weakly by evanescence above and below. Second, an evanescent wave in strong wind flow is examined. Model results suggest an opposite case from the first case study, where the wave is instead trapped above or below the mesopause region, with strong evanescence arising in the 85–95 km airglow region. Distinct differences between the characteristics of these visibly-similar wave events demonstrate the need for simultaneous observations of mesopause winds to properly assess local propagation conditions.

From September to November 2005, the NASA Living with a Star program supported the Spread-F Experiment campaign (SpreadFEx) in Brazil to study the effects of convectively generated gravity waves on the ionosphere and their role in seeding Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, and associated equatorial plasma bubbles. Several US and Brazilian institutes deployed a broad range of instruments (all-sky imagers, digisondes, photometers, meteor/VHF radars, GPS receivers) covering a large area of Brazil. The campaign was divided in two observational phases centered on the September and October new moon periods. During these periods, an Utah State University (USU) all-sky CCD imager operated at São João d'Aliança (14.8° S, 47.6° W), near Brasilia, and a Brazilian all-sky CCD imager located at Cariri (7.4° S, 36° W), observed simultaneously the evolution of the ionospheric bubbles in the OI (630 nm) emission and the mesospheric gravity wave field. The two sites had approximately the same magnetic latitude (9–10° S) but were separated in longitude by ~1500 km. Plasma bubbles were observed on every clear night (17 from Brasilia and 19 from Cariri, with 8 coincident nights). These joint datasets provided important information for characterizing the ionospheric depletions during the campaign and to perform a novel longitudinal investigation of their variability. Measurements of the drift velocities at both sites are in good agreement with previous studies, however, the overlapping fields of view revealed significant differences in the occurrence and structure of the plasma bubbles, providing new evidence for localized generation. This paper summarizes the observed bubble characteristics important for related investigations of their seeding mechanisms associated with gravity wave activity.

The SpreadFEx campaign was conducted with the goal of investigating potential neutral atmospheric dynamics influences in seeding plasma instabilities and bubbles extending to higher altitudes from September to November 2005, with primary measurements in Brazil. In this paper, we present the results of space-based UV and ground-based optical observations in support of this campaign. Specifically, we present multi-dimensional electron density images obtained tomographically from the 135.6 nm emissions measured by the GUVI instrument aboard the TIMED satellite that result from radiative recombination of O+ and compare those with the corresponding 630.0 nm OI images recorded in the Brazilian sector. The GUVI results provide altitude vs. longitude information on depleted regions in the ionospheric plasma density that are complementary to the single-height latitude-longitude images obtained with the airglow imager.

We provide here an overview of, and a summary of results arising from, an extensive experimental campaign (the Spread F Experiment, or SpreadFEx) performed from September to November 2005, with primary measurements in Brazil. The motivation was to define the potential role of neutral atmosphere dynamics, specifically gravity wave motions propagating upward from the lower atmosphere, in seeding Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) and plasma bubbles extending to higher altitudes. Campaign measurements focused on the Brazilian sector and included ground-based optical, radar, digisonde, and GPS measurements at a number of fixed and temporary sites. Related data on convection and plasma bubble structures were also collected by GOES 12, and the GUVI instrument aboard the TIMED satellite. Initial results of our SpreadFEx analyses are described separately by Fritts et al. (2009). Further analyses of these data provide additional evidence of 1) gravity wave (GW) activity near the mesopause apparently linked to deep convection predominantly to the west of our measurement sites, 2) small-scale GWs largely confined to lower altitudes, 3) larger-scale GWs apparently penetrating to much higher altitudes, 4) substantial GW amplitudes implied by digisonde electron densities, and 5) apparent influences of these perturbations in the lower F-region on the formation of equatorial spread F, RTI, and plasma bubbles extending to much higher altitudes. Other efforts with SpreadFEx data have also yielded 6) the occurrence, locations, and scales of deep convection, 7) the spatial and temporal evolutions of plasma bubbles, 8) 2-D (height-resolved) structures in electron density fluctuations and equatorial spread F at lower altitudes and plasma bubbles above, and 9) the occurrence of substantial tidal perturbations to the large-scale wind and temperature fields extending to bottomside F-layer and higher altitudes. Collectively, our various SpreadFEx analyses suggest direct links between deep tropical convection and large GW perturbations at large spatial scales at the bottomside F-layer and their likely contributions to the excitation of RTI and plasma bubbles extending to much higher altitudes.

During the Spread F Experiment campaign, under NASA Living with a Star (LWS) program, carried out in the South American Magnetic Equator region from 22 September to 8 November 2005, two airglow CCD imagers, located at Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W, geomag. 11° S) and near Brasilia (14.8° S, 47.6° W, geomag. 10° S) were operated simultaneously and measured the equatorial ionospheric bubbles and their time evolution by monitoring the airglow OI 6300 intensity depletions. Simultaneous observation of the mesospheric OH wave structures made it possible to investigate the relationship between the bubble formation in the ionosphere and the gravity wave activity at around 90 km. On the evening of 30 September 2005, comb-like OI 6300 depletions with a distance of ~130 km between the adjacent ones were observed. During the same period, a mesospheric gravity wave with a horizontal wavelength of ~130 km was observed. From the 17 nights of observation during the campaign period, there was a good correlation between the OI 6300 depletion distances and the gravity wave horizontal wavelengths in the mesosphere with a statistically significant level, suggesting a direct contribution of the mesospheric gravity wave to plasma bubble seeding in the equatorial ionosphere.

On 1 October 2005, during the SpreadFEx campaign, a distinct mesospheric bore was observed over São João do Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W), Brazil by using airglow all-sky imagers. The event appeared both in the OI5577 and OH emissions, forming a well extended wave front which was followed by short waves from behind. Simultaneous wind and temperature data obtained by the meteor radar and the TIMED/SABER satellite instrument revealed that the bore event occurred during the Doppler ducting condition in the emission layers.

We developed a technique to identify and estimate the size, intensity, and Tropopause overshoot of thunderstorm convective cores expected to be significant sources of gravity waves. The work was based on GOES IR images of South America on the night of 30 September to 1 October and 25–26 October 2005, as part of the Spread F Experiment (SpreadFEx) in Brazil in 2005. We also characterized, for the first time, the convective activity of three small TLE producing thunderstorms that yielded 11 TLEs on 25–26 October 2005. The campaign occurred during the dry to wet season transition in central Brazil, marked by the presence of extra-tropical cyclogenesis over the Atlantic Ocean, and cold fronts penetrating inland. The Tropopause temperature was typically −76°C with a corresponding altitude of ~15 200 m. Vigorous convective cores capable of generating strong gravity waves were located in convective regions having areas with cloud top temperatures ≤−76°C. They had typical cloud-top temperature deficits of ΔT−2.0°C to −8.0°C from the average surroundings, implying overshoot heights of 200 to 3100 m, which are within the typical range. Fast vertical development and high horizontal growth rates were associated with a large number of simultaneously active vigorous convective cores, indicating that their dynamics may have determined the spatial-temporal development of the thunderstorms analyzed. Moderate convective cores were also present in areas with cloud top −76°C≤T≤−70°C. They had ΔT of −1.9°C to −5.3°C producing overshoots between 80–300 m. All convective cores had typical diameters of 5–20 km and their size tended to increase with ΔT, there was a 57% correlation between the two parameters. Analysis of the relationship of cloud top T with positive and negative cloud-to-ground lightning (+/−CG) occurrence rate and with peak current showed that lighting activity may provide an independent way to identify convective cores and measure their intensity, since they were characterized by a high incidence of low peak current −CGs that forms the bulk of the −CG population.

As part of the SpreadFEx campaign, coordinated optical and radio measurements were made from Brazil to investigate the occurrence and properties of equatorial Spread F, and to characterize the regional mesospheric gravity wave field. All-sky image measurements were made from two sites: Brasilia and Cariri located ~10° S of the magnetic equator and separated by ~1500 km. In particular, the observations from Brasilia provided key data in relatively close proximity to expected convective sources of the gravity waves. High-quality image measurements of the mesospheric OH emission and the thermospheric OI (630 nm) emission were made during two consecutive new moon periods (22 September to 9 November 2005) providing extensive data on the occurrence and properties of F-region depletions and regional measurements of the dominant gravity wave characteristics at each site. A total of 120 wave displays were observed, comprising 94 short-period events and 26 medium-scale gravity waves. The characteristics of the small-scale waves agreed well with previous gravity wave studies from Brazil and other sites. However, significant differences in the wave propagation headings indicate dissimilar source regions for the Brasilia and Cariri datasets. The observed medium-scale gravity wave events constitute an important new dataset to study their mesospheric properties at equatorial latitudes. These data exhibited similar propagation headings to the short-period events, suggesting they originated from the same source regions. Medium-scale waves are generally less susceptible to wind filtering effects and modeling studies utilizing these data have successfully identified localized regions of strong convection, mainly to the west of Brasilia, as their most likely sources (Vadas et al., 2009).

The Spread F Experiment, or SpreadFEx, was performed from September to November 2005 to define the potential role of neutral atmosphere dynamics, primarily gravity waves propagating upward from the lower atmosphere, in seeding equatorial spread F (ESF) and plasma bubbles extending to higher altitudes. A description of the SpreadFEx campaign motivations, goals, instrumentation, and structure, and an overview of the results presented in this special issue, are provided by Fritts et al. (2008a). The various analyses of neutral atmosphere and ionosphere dynamics and structure described in this special issue provide enticing evidence of gravity waves arising from deep convection in plasma bubble seeding at the bottomside F layer. Our purpose here is to employ these results to estimate gravity wave characteristics at the bottomside F layer, and to assess their possible contributions to optimal seeding conditions for ESF and plasma instability growth rates. We also assess expected tidal influences on the environment in which plasma bubble seeding occurs, given their apparent large wind and temperature amplitudes at these altitudes. We conclude 1) that gravity waves can achieve large amplitudes at the bottomside F layer, 2) that tidal winds likely control the orientations of the gravity waves that attain the highest altitudes and have the greatest effects, 3) that the favored gravity wave orientations enhance most or all of the parameters influencing plasma instability growth rates, and 4) that gravity wave and tidal structures acting together have an even greater potential impact on plasma instability growth rates and plasma bubble seeding.

Simultaneous measurements of mesospheric OH (6–2) Meinel and O2 (0–1) Atmospheric band emissions from a low-latitude station, Maui, Hawaii (20.8° N, 156.2° W) are utilized to study the wave characteristics and associated processes. Deduced temperatures show large variability in both OH and O2 data. The seasonal variability in the temperature shows a well-defined, semiannual type of oscillation, which are comparable to the ground-based rocket sounding data. The "Wave Growth Factor", a ratio of normalized perturbation amplitude in O2 to the OH temperature variability, is estimated for principal as well as residual smaller period components of the nocturnal variability. It is noticed that smaller period waves (less than 12 h) occasionally have large growth factors of about 3–4 during equinox transitions, an indication of wave amplitude amplification within the 87–94 km altitudes while a strong wave-dissipation occurs throughout the year.

Gravity wave signatures were extracted from OH airglow observations using all-sky CCD imagers at four different stations: Cachoeira Paulista (CP) (22.7° S, 45° W) and São João do Cariri (7.4° S, 36.5° W), Brazil; Tanjungsari (TJS) (6.9° S, 107.9° E), Indonesia and Shigaraki (34.9° N, 136° E), Japan. The gravity wave parameters are used as an input in a reverse ray tracing model to study the gravity wave vertical propagation trajectory and to estimate the wave source region. Gravity waves observed near the equator showed a shorter period and a larger phase velocity than those waves observed at low-middle latitudes. The waves ray traced down into the troposphere showed the largest horizontal wavelength and phase speed. The ray tracing results also showed that at CP, Cariri and Shigaraki the majority of the ray paths stopped in the mesosphere due to the condition of m2m2m|→∞), which suggests the presence of ducting waves and/or waves generated in-situ. In the troposphere, the possible gravity wave sources are related to meteorological front activities and cloud convections at CP, while at Cariri and TJS tropical cloud convections near the equator are the most probable gravity wave sources. The tropospheric jet stream and the orography are thought to be the major responsible sources for the waves observed at Shigaraki.

As part of the MaCWAVE (Mountain and Convective Waves Ascending Vertically) winter campaign an all-sky monochromatic CCD imager has been used to investigate the properties of short-period mesospheric gravity waves at high northern latitudes. Sequential measurements of several nightglow emissions were made from Esrange, Sweden, during a limited period from 27–31 January 2003. Coincident wind measurements over the altitude range (~80–100 km) using two meteor radar systems located at Esrange and Andenes have been used to perform a novel investigation of the intrinsic properties of five distinct wave events observed during this period. Additional lidar and MSIS model temperature data have been used to investigate their nature (i.e. freely propagating or ducted). Four of these extensive wave events were found to be freely propagating with potential source regions to the north of Scandinavia. No evidence was found for strong orographic forcing by short-period waves in the airglow emission layers. The fifth event was most unusual exhibiting an extensive, but much smaller and variable wavelength pattern that appeared to be embedded in the background wind field. Coincident wind measurements indicated the presence of a strong shear suggesting this event was probably due to a large-scale Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.

Images of mesospheric airglow and radar-wind measurements have been combined to estimate the difference in the vertical flux of horizontal momentum carried by high-frequency gravity waves over two dissimilar Antarctic stations. Rothera (67° S, 68° W) is situated in the mountains of the Peninsula near the edge of the wintertime polar vortex. In contrast, Halley (76° S, 27° W), some 1658 km to the southeast, is located on an ice sheet at the edge of the Antarctic Plateau and deep within the polar vortex during winter. The cross-correlation coefficients between the vertical and horizontal wind perturbations were calculated from sodium (Na) airglow imager data collected during the austral winter seasons of 2002 and 2003 at Rothera for comparison with the 2000 and 2001 results from Halley reported previously (Espy et al., 2004). These cross-correlation coefficients were combined with wind-velocity variances from coincident radar measurements to estimate the daily averaged upper-limit of the vertical flux of horizontal momentum due to gravity waves near the peak emission altitude of the Na nightglow layer, 90km. The resulting momentum flux at both stations displayed a large day-to-day variability and showed a marked seasonal rotation from the northwest to the southwest throughout the winter. However, the magnitude of the flux at Rothera was about 4 times larger than that at Halley, suggesting that the differences in the gravity-wave source functions and filtering by the underlying winds at the two stations create significant regional differences in wave forcing on the scale of the station separation.

In this paper, we examine ionospheric plasma depletions (or bubbles) and irregularities observed by photometers and a ground-based receiver of the global positioning system (GPS) both located in Brazil, South America. A simultaneous observation reveals that when the ionospheric plasma becomes depleted, the GPS total electron content decreases and the associated phase fluctuations grow. Statistical results show that the plasma bubbles and the significant GPS phase fluctuations generally occur during October-March. The solar activity variation is not obvious in either observation except during the equinoctial months. The GPS phase fluctuations suggest that the most pronounced ionospheric irregularities appear between 20:00 and 01:00 LT, which generally agree with previous ionospheric bubble observations.

It is pointed out that observations of periodic nightglow structures give excellent information on atmospheric gravity waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The periods, the horizontal wavelengths and the phase speeds of the waves can be determined from airglow images and, using several cameras, the approximate altitude of the luminous layer can also be determined by triangulation. In this paper the possibility of applying tomographic methods for reconstructing the airglow structures is investigated using numerical simulations. A ground-based chain of cameras is assumed, two-dimensional airglow models in the vertical plane above the chain are constructed, and simulated data are calculated by integrating the models along a great number of rays with different elevation angles for each camera. After addition of random noise, these data are then inverted to obtain reconstructions of the models. A tomographic analysis package originally designed for satellite radiotomography is used in the inversion. The package is based on a formulation of stochastic inversion which allows the input of a priori information to the solver in terms of regularization variances. The reconstruction is carried out in two stages. In the first inversion, constant regularization variances are used within a wide altitude range. The results are used in determining the approximate altitude range of the airglow structures. Then, in the second inversion, constant non-zero regularization variances are used inside this region and zero variances outside it. With this method reliable reconstructions of the models are obtained. The number of cameras as well as their separations are varied in order to find out the limitations of the method.Key words. Tomography · Airglow · Mesopause · Gravity waves

Two Fourier transform spectrometers have been used to investigate the properties of the near-infrared hydroxyl (OH) nightglow emission under high-latitude summertime conditions and any association with noctilucent clouds (NLCs). The measurements were made from Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska (65.1°N, 147.5°W), during August 1986. Simultaneous photographic observations of the northern twilight sky were made from Gulkana, Alaska (62.2°N, 145.5°W), approximately 340 km to the south to establish the presence of NLCs over the spectrometer site. Data exhibiting significant short-term variations in the relative intensity (as much as 50–100%) and rotational temperature (typically 5–15 K) were recorded on six occasions when NLCs were observed. Joint measurements were also obtained on several "cloud-free" nights. No obvious relationship was found linking the mean OH intensity or its variation with the occurrence of NLCs. However, a clear tendency was found for the mean OH temperature to be lower on NLC nights than on cloud-free nights. In particular, a significant fraction of the OH(3–1) band spectra recorded by each instrument (16–57%) exhibited temperatures below ~154 K on NLC nights compared with

No abstract available.

Two Fourier transform spectrometers have been used to investigate the properties of the near-infrared hydroxyl (OH) nightglow emission under high-latitude summertime conditions and any association with noctilucent clouds (NLCs). The measurements were made from Poker Flat Research Range, Alaska (65.1°N, 147.5°W), during August 1986. Simultaneous photographic observations of the northern twilight sky were made from Gulkana, Alaska (62.2°N, 145.5°W), approximately 340 km to the south to establish the presence of NLCs over the spectrometer site. Data exhibiting significant short-term variations in the relative intensity (as much as 50–100%) and rotational temperature (typically 5–15 K) were recorded on six occasions when NLCs were observed. Joint measurements were also obtained on several "cloud-free" nights. No obvious relationship was found linking the mean OH intensity or its variation with the occurrence of NLCs. However, a clear tendency was found for the mean OH temperature to be lower on NLC nights than on cloud-free nights. In particular, a significant fraction of the OH(3–1) band spectra recorded by each instrument (16–57%) exhibited temperatures below ~154 K on NLC nights compared with