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WINDII airglow observations of wave superposition and the possible association with historical “bright nights”
Author(s) -
Shepherd G. G.,
Cho Y.M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl074014
Subject(s) - airglow , longitude , middle latitudes , atmospheric sciences , thermosphere , atmosphere (unit) , maxima , latitude , physics , satellite , geology , environmental science , ionosphere , geodesy , astronomy , meteorology , art , performance art , art history
Longitudinal variations of airglow emission rate are prominent in all midlatitude nighttime O( 1 S) lower thermospheric data obtained with the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). The pattern generally appears as a combination of zonal waves 1, 2, 3, and 4 whose phases propagate at different rates. Sudden localized enhancements of 2 to 4 days duration are sometimes evident, reaching vertically integrated emission rates of 400 R, a factor of 10 higher than minimum values for the same day. These are found to occur when the four wave components come into the same phase at one longitude. It is shown that these highly localized longitudinal maxima are consistent with the historical phenomena known as “bright nights” in which the surroundings of human dark night observers were seen to be illuminated by this enhanced airglow.