DYNAMITE - Forschung - Leibniz-Institut für Atmosphärenphysik, Kühlungsborn

DYNAMITE project (2016-2018)

Understanding the role of mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) dynamics at mid and high latitudes on the ionosphere/thermosphere weather

Scientific objectives

Quantification of the gravity waves (GW) activity in the MLT region using Lidar measurements (figure 1), and estimation of their corresponding momentum flux at middle and high latitudes using Radar observations.
Investigation of the semidiurnal solar and lunar tides in the MLT region during sudden stratospheric warmings (SSW) and their relation to splitting and displacing stratospheric polar vortex events, using observations and simulations (figure 2).
Evaluation of the observed MLT solar and lunar tides during SSW and non-SSW events on the I/T weather, by comparing special WACCM-X + TIMEGCM simulations with satellite and ground-based I/T observations.
Investigation of the interactions of planetary waves (PW), mean winds and tides in the MLT region and their relation to thermospheric parameters as observed by SWARM and other satellites (e.g., CHAMP, GRACE, GOCE) at middle and high latitudes.

Figure 1: seasonal variation of GWPED for different altitude ranges (green: 35–40 km, black: 45–50 km, red: 55–60 km) calculated from the temperature deviations (left) from the daily mean, (middle) from vertically filtered data, and (right) from temporally filtered data. The error bars denote the standard deviation of the mean values from each year. These results were obtained from Lidar measurements above Kühlungsborn, and are presented in Baumgarten et al., 2017.

Figure 2: Mean zonal wind (U), semidiurnal solar tide (S2) and semidiurnal lunar tide (M2) total magnitudes obtained from meteor radar measurements (left) and TIMEGCM/WACCM-X (right) for the year 2009 over Davis, Rio Grande, Andenes and Juliusruh. The vertical black lines indicate the onset of the SSW: 23 January. Data gaps are shown in white (from Conte et al., 2017, JGR).

List of participants

Prof. Dr. J. L. Chau
Prof. Dr. F.-J. Lübken
Dr. F. Conte
Dr. G. Stober
Dr. M. Gerding
Dr. G. Baumgarten
Dr. J. Höffner
Dr. R. Latteck
Dr. K. Baumgarten
Dr. D. Pokhotelov

External collaborators

Dr. N. Pedatella (NCAR)
Dr. L. Goncharenko (MIT-Haystack Observatory)
Prof. C. Jacobi (University of Leipzig)
Dr. H. L. Liu (HAO)
Dr. J. Matzka (GFZ)
Dr. H. Schmidt (MPI)
Dr. D. Murphy (CPC-AAD)

Related publications

Baumgarten, K., M. Gerding, G. Baumgarten and F.-J. Lübken (2018), Temporal variability of tidal and gravity waves during a record long 10 day continuous lidar sounding, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 371-384, doi:10.5194/acp-18-371-2018
Baumgarten, K., M. Gerding, and F.-J. Lübken (2017), Seasonal variation of gravity wave parameters using different filter methods with daylight lidar measurements at midlatitudes, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 122, 2683-2695, doi:10.1002/2016JD025916
Chau, J. L., P. Hoffmann, N. M. Pedatella, V. Matthias, and G. Stober (2015), Upper mesospheric lunar tides over middle and high latitudes during sudden stratospheric warming events, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 120, doi:10.1002/2015JA020998
Conte, J. F., J. L. Chau, G. Stober, N. Pedatella, A. Maute, P. Hoffmann, D. Janches, D. Fritts, and D. J. Murphy (2017), Climatology of semidiurnal lunar and solar tides at middle and high latitudes: Interhemispheric comparison, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 122, doi:10.1002/2017JA024396
Conte, J. F., and C. Brunini, Ingestion of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC GPS data into La Plata Ionospheric Model: A preliminary assessment (2017), Adv. Space Res., 60, 677 691, doi:10.1016/j.asr.2017.04.025
Conte, J. F., J. L. Chau, F. I. Laskar, G. Stober, H. Schmidt, and P. Brown (2018), Semidiurnal solar tide differences between fall and spring transition times in the Northern Hemisphere, Ann. Geophys., 36, 999-1008, doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-999-2018
He, M., J. L. Chau, G. Stober, C. M. Hall, M. Tsutsumi und P. Hoffmann (2017), Application of Manley-Rowe relation in analyzing nonlinear interactions between planetary waves and the solar semidiurnal tide during 2009 sudden stratospheric warming event, J. Geophys. Res., 122, 10783-10795, doi:10.1002/2017JA024630
Hysell, D. L., D. C. Fritts, B. Laughman und J. L. Chau (2017), Gravity wave-induced ionospheric irregularities in the postsunset equatorial valley region, J. Geophys. Res., 122, 11579-11590, doi:10.1002/2017JA024514
Pedatella, N. M., H. L. Liu, F. Sassi, J. Lei, J. L. Chau, and X. Zhang (2014), Ionosphere variability during the 2009 SSW: Influence of the lunar semidiurnal tide and mechanisms producing electron density variability, J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 119, 3828-3843, doi:10.1002/2014JA019849
Pedatella, N. M., J. L. Chau, H. Schmidt, L. P. Goncharenko, C. Stolle, K. Hocke, V. L. Harvey, B. Funke und T. A. Siddiqui (2018), How sudden stratospheric warming affects the whole atmosphere, EOS Earth & Space Science News, 99, doi:10.1029/2018EO092441
Pokhotelov, D., E. Becker, G. Stober und J. L. Chau (2018), Seasonal variability of atmospheric tides in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere: Meteor radar data and simulations, Ann. Geophys., 36, 825-830, doi:10.5194/angeo-36-825-2018