Vargas, F.; Fuentes, J.; Vega, P.; Navarro, L.; Swenson, G. Probing the Analytical Cancellation Factor of Short Scale Gravity Waves Using Na Lidar and Nightglow Data from the Andes Lidar Observatory. Atmosphere2020, 11, 1311.
Vargas, F.; Fuentes, J.; Vega, P.; Navarro, L.; Swenson, G. Probing the Analytical Cancellation Factor of Short Scale Gravity Waves Using Na Lidar and Nightglow Data from the Andes Lidar Observatory. Atmosphere 2020, 11, 1311.
Vargas, F.; Fuentes, J.; Vega, P.; Navarro, L.; Swenson, G. Probing the Analytical Cancellation Factor of Short Scale Gravity Waves Using Na Lidar and Nightglow Data from the Andes Lidar Observatory. Atmosphere2020, 11, 1311.
Vargas, F.; Fuentes, J.; Vega, P.; Navarro, L.; Swenson, G. Probing the Analytical Cancellation Factor of Short Scale Gravity Waves Using Na Lidar and Nightglow Data from the Andes Lidar Observatory. Atmosphere 2020, 11, 1311.
Abstract
The cancelation factor (CF) is a model for the ratio between gravity wave perturbations in the airglow intensity to that in the ambient temperature. The CF model allows to estimate the momentum and energy flux of gravity waves seen in nightglow images as well as the divergence of these fluxes due to waves propagating through the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region, where the nightglow and the Na layers are located. This study uses a set of T/W Na Lidar data and zenith nightglow image observations of the OH and O(1S) emissions to test and validate the CF model from the experimental perspective. The dataset analyzed was obtained during campaigns carried out at the Andes Lidar Observatory (ALO), Chile in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The CF modeled function was compared with observed points from an empirical method for vertically propagating waves that calculates directly the ratio of the gravity wave amplitude seen in nightglow images to the wave amplitude seen in lidar temperatures. We show that the CF analytical relationship underestimates the observed results generally. However, the O(1S) emission line has better agreement respect to the theoretical value due to simpler nightglow photochemistry. In contrast, the observed CF ratio from the OH emission deviates by a factor of two from the modeled asymptotic value.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science and Meteorology
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