HR: 1340h
AN: SA53A-1144    [Abstracts]
TI: Seasonal and Nightly Variations of Gravity Wave Energy Density Measured by the Purple Crow Lidar
AU: * Sica, R J
EM: sica@uwo.ca
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7 Canada
AU: Cole, I
EM: icole@scimail.uwaterloo.ca
AF: Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Canada
AU: Argall, S
EM: sargall@physics.uwo.ca
AF: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7 Canada
AB: The Purple Crow Lidar(PCL) is a large power-aperture product monostatic laser radar which has been in operation at the Delaware Observatory near the campus of The University of Western Ontario since 1992. The PCL is capable of making simultaneous measurements of Rayleigh, Raman and resonance fluorescence scattering, which allows temperature, constituent density and gravity wave parameters to be simultaneously determined from the troposphere to the lower thermosphere. Average nightly gravity wave energy density has been calculated from the Rayleigh-scatter system measurements. The gravity wave energy density is typically largest in the upper stratosphere relative to the mesosphere. There are no clear seasonal trends, but the energy density appears to decrease rapidly in the fall relative to the late summer. The nightly variability of the gravity wave energy density is often extremely large, with 50 to 100% RMS fluctuations about the mean energy at all heights.
UR: http://pcl.physics.uwo.ca
DE: 0342 Middle atmosphere: energy deposition (3334)
DE: 0350 Pressure, density, and temperature
DE: 3334 Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342)
DE: 3384 Acoustic-gravity waves
DE: 3394 Instruments and techniques
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005