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A note on apparent solar time and the seasonal cycle of atmospheric solar tides
Author(s) -
Hamilton Kevin,
Sakazaki Takatoshi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.3076
Subject(s) - environmental science , atmospheric sciences , solar cycle , equator , solar irradiance , solar maximum , meteorology , climatology , latitude , geology , physics , geodesy , quantum mechanics , magnetic field , solar wind
Both observations and comprehensive model simulation data of atmospheric fields are generally available at fixed Mean Solar Times through the day, which is convenient as the notional ‘mean sun’ progresses around the Earth each day in exactly 24 h. This article reports on a simple investigation of the effect of correcting data taken in Mean Solar Time to account for the difference in position between the actual (or ‘apparent’) sun and the mean sun, with a focus on characterizing atmospheric tidal oscillations. In particular, we found that the annual cycle in the phase of the semidiurnal atmospheric tidal oscillation of surface pressure near the Equator is almost entirely explained by the difference between Mean Solar Time and Apparent Solar Time. This result was confirmed in raw barometric observations as well as in several global reanalysis datasets.