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Wind corners in the winter mesosphere
Author(s) -
von Zahn U.,
Widdel H.U.
Publication year - 1985
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 - 10.1029/gl012i010p00673
Subject(s) - altitude (triangle) , wind shear , atmospheric sciences , wind speed , wind direction , geology , wind profile power law , mesosphere , chaff , latitude , wind gradient , radar , lidar , maximum sustained wind , meteorology , environmental science , geodesy , remote sensing , stratosphere , geometry , physics , geography , oceanography , telecommunications , archaeology , computer science , mathematics
A series of 18 mesospheric wind profiles with an altitude resolution of about 50 m has been obtained by means of radar tracking of chaff clouds. The experiments were performed during during wintertime at 69°N latitude and they cover mostly the 72 to 86 km altitude range. The observed wind shears frequently concentrate the changes of wind direction α with altitude z into shallow layers, which we designate "wind corners". They are characterized by having large directional gradients dα/dz (⩾ 5°/100 m) and by having a small vertical vertical extent ( ⩽ 500 m). Also wind corners separate altitude layers of a few km thickness in which little change of wind direction occurs. Frequently wind corners coincide with local minima in the horizontal wind speed (≤15 m/s).