Relationship between topography, tropospheric wind, and frequency of mountain waves in the upper mesosphere over the Kanto area of Japan

Abstract

Abstract Imaging observations of OH airglow were performed at Meiji University, Japan (35.6° N, 139.5° E), from May 2018 to December 2019. Mountainous areas are located to the west of the imager, and westerly winds are dominant in the lower atmosphere throughout the year. Mountain waves (MWs) are generated and occasionally propagate to the upper atmosphere. However, only four likely MW events were identified, which are considerably fewer than expected. There are two possible reasons for the low incidence: (1) MWs do not propagate easily to the upper mesosphere due to background wind conditions, and/or (2) the frequency of MW excitation was low around the observation site. Former possibility is found not to be a main reason to explain the frequency by assuming typical wind profiles in troposphere and upper mesosphere over Japan. Thus, frequency and spatial distribution of orographic wavy clouds were investigated by analyzing images taken by the Himawari-8 geostationary meteorological satellite in 2018. The number of days when wavy clouds were detected in the troposphere around the observation site (Kanto area) was about a quarter of that around the Tohoku area. This result indicates that frequency of over-mountain flow which is thought to be a source of excitation of MWs is low in Kanto area. We also found that the angle between the horizontal wind direction in troposphere and the orientation of the mountain ridge is a good proxy for the occurrence of orographic wavy clouds, i.e., excitation of MWs. We applied this proxy to the topography around the world to investigate regions where MWs are likely to be excited frequently throughout the year to discuss the likelihood of "MW hotspots" at various spatial scale. Graphical Abstract

Keywords

• OH airglow
• Mesosphere
• Atmospheric gravity waves
• Mountain waves