Observations of the unambiguous 2-dimensional horizontal wave number spectrum of OH intensity perturbations

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Abstract

The unambiguous 2-D horizontal wave number spectrum of gravity wave perturbations in OH emission intensities is computed from imager observations acquired on 2 Feb 1995 at the Starfire Optical Range, NM. The technique involves computing the (ω, k, l) = (ω, h, φ) spectrum of OH images collected over a several hour period, where k is the zonal wave number, l is the meridional wave number, h = (k2 + l2)1/2, φ = tan-1 (k/l), and ω is the temporal frequency. The data are used to study the azimuthal distribution of wave energy propagation and the separability of the (h, φ) spectrum. The h spectral indices, computed from power-law fits of the 2-D spectrum over the wave number range 2π/(200 km) < h < 2π/(20 km), vary between -1.6 and -3.6 as a function of φ with a mean of -2.58. Consequently, the image spectrum is not separable in h and φ. We show that nonseparability is most likely associated with distortion of the wave perturbations caused by the viewing geometry at large zenith angles.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number96GL03158
Pages (from-to)3739-3742
Number of pages4
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume23
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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