Simultaneous lidar observations of vertical wind, temperature, and density profiles in the upper mesophere: Evidence for nonseparability of atmospheric perturbation spectra

A Na Wind/Temperature lidar was used to measure Na density, atmospheric temperature, and vertical wind profiles between 84 and 100 km altitude on September 27, 1993 at Haleakala, Maui during the 1993 Airborne Lidar and Observations of the Hawaiian Airglow (ALOHA‐93) Campaign. The data were used to compute the vertical wave number (m) and observed temporal frequency spectra (ω) of relative atmospheric density, relative temperature, and vertical winds perturbations. The shapes and magnitudes of the relative density and temperature spectra are consistent with the large body of previously published observations. The spectral indices are near −3 for the m‐spectra and near −2 for the ω‐spectra. The spectral index of the vertical wind ω‐spectrum is near 0. The spectral index of the vertical wind m‐spectrum is very small (−1.4). This result is inconsistent with the concept of separable (m, ω) joint spectra for wave induced perturbations. The measured rms perturbations during the observation period are, respectively, 4.9%, 4.5%, and 3.9 m/s for relative atmospheric density, relative temperature, and vertical winds.