Climatologies of nighttime thermospheric winds and temperatures from Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements: From solar minimum to solar maximum

Daniel J. Fisher, Jonathan J. Makela, John W. Meriwether, Ricardo A. Buriti, Zouhair Benkhaldoun, Mohamed Kaab, Amine Lagheryeb

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We present a climatology of quiet time thermospheric winds and temperatures estimated from high-resolution Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements of the 630.0 nm airglow emission spectral line shape. Three locations are examined in this long-term study: northeastern Brazil (August 2009 to August 2014), a midlatitude site in North Carolina, USA (June 2011 to December 2014), and a midlatitude site in Morocco (November 2013 to December 2014). We discuss the day-to-day, seasonal, and solar cycle trends and variations of thermospheric meridional winds, zonal winds, neutral temperatures, and for the first time vertical winds. Observations made from solar minimum to solar maximum (with F10.7 values ranging from 70 to 159 solar flux units) confirm that neutral temperatures have a strong solar cycle dependence. However, this data set shows that the neutral winds are more closely tied to the seasonal variation, rather than the solar cycle. We also present comparisons between the two midlatitude sites and include neutral wind comparisons to the updated Horizontal Wind Model 14.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6679-6693
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Volume120
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2015

Keywords

  • Fabry-Perot interferometer
  • climatology
  • thermospheric neutral winds and temperatures

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Climatologies of nighttime thermospheric winds and temperatures from Fabry-Perot interferometer measurements: From solar minimum to solar maximum'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this