Open AccessExperiments with a lunar atmospheric tidal model
Author(s) -
Stening R. J.,
Forbes J. M.,
Hagan M. E.,
Richmond A. D.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/97jd00778
Subject(s) - atmospheric tide , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , northern hemisphere , geology , southern hemisphere , atmospheric temperature , amplitude , climatology , environmental science , thermosphere , meteorology , ionosphere , geophysics , physics , quantum mechanics
A lunar tidal model similar to that of Forbes [1982] is used to investigate the effects of changes in background zonal winds on the structure of the lunar tide in the upper atmosphere. It is found that changes in the winds have a greater effect than changes in the background temperature profile with latitude. Observed changes in the structure of the lunar tide from year to year at Saskatoon may be explained by introducing stratospheric warmings into the model. The addition of an associated mesospheric cooling gives an even better fit to the observed phase data. It is also seen that northern hemisphere warmings are predicted to give considerable amplitude changes in southern hemisphere lunar tides. It is expected that much of the difficulty in measuring lunar tides in the upper atmosphere is due to changes in the tidal parameters at these levels brought about by variations in the underlying atmosphere.