Climatology of mesopause region nocturnal temperature, zonal wind and sodium density observed by sodium lidar over Hefei, China (32° N, 117° E)

Abstract

The University of Science and Technology of China narrowband sodium temperature and wind lidar, located in Hefei, China (32° N, 117° E), has made routine nighttime measurements since January 2012. A total of 154 nights (∼ 1400 h) of vertical profiles of temperature, sodium density, and zonal wind and 83 nights (∼ 800 h) of vertical flux of gravity wave (GW) zonal momentum in the mesopause region (80–105 km) were obtained during the period from 2012 to 2016. For temperature, it is most likely that the diurnal tide dominates below 100 km in spring, while the semidiurnal tide dominates above 100 km throughout the year. A clear semiannual variation in temperature is revealed near 90 km, in phase with the tropical mesospheric semiannual oscillation (MSAO). The variability in sodium density is positively correlated with temperature below 95 km, suggesting that in addition to dynamics, the chemistry also plays an important role in the formation of sodium atoms. The seasonal variability in sodium density observed by both lidar and satellite generally agrees well with a whole atmosphere model simulation using an updated meteoric input function which includes different cosmic dust sources. For zonal wind, the diurnal tide dominates in both spring and fall, while semidiurnal tide dominates in winter. The observed semiannual variation in zonal wind near 90 km is out of phase with that in temperature, consistent with the tropical MSAO. The lidar observations generally agree with satellite and meteor radar observations as well as model simulations at similar latitude. The 50–70 % of zonal momentum flux is induced by short-period (10 min–2 h) GWs. The large zonal momentum flux in summer and winter due to short-period GWs is clearly anticorrelated with eastward zonal wind maxima below 90 km, suggesting the filtering of short-period GWs by the SAO wind.