Observations of a Breakdown of a Mountain Wave Near 84 km Altitude Over Cerro Pachon Chile from the Andes Lidar Observatory

Abstract:

Mountain waves are produced by flow over orography. They propagate almost vertically, and are characterized by nearly zero velocity phase speed. The altitude to which they typically propagate is not well documented. They are thought to mainly dissipate by absorption in a critical layer although large-amplitude wave breakdown is also thought to occur. There have been almost no direct observations of the breakdown of mountain waves in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere. The region over Cerro Pachon Chile (a 2715 meter mountain in the Andes where large astronomical telescopes are located) is especially favorable to the production of mountain waves. In 2009 Smith and colleagues reported on the first observations of such waves propagating into the mesopause region (85 to 95 km) from El Leoncito Argentina, where waves over Cerro Pachon could be seen using airglow observations. The Aerospace Corporation's Nightglow Imager (ANI) is located at the Andes Lidar Observatory near the crest of Cerro Pachon. ANI observes nighttime OH emission (near 1.6 microns) every 2 seconds over an approximate 73 degree field of view. ANI had previously been used to the breakdown of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability features not associated with a specific gravity wave. Here we present OH airglow observations, originating near 84 km, from 22 UT to 3 UT on 8/9 July 2012 that show the breakdown of a mountain wave into instability features that subsequently dissipate into turbulence. These multi-hour observations provide the most detailed images to date of the breakdown of a mountain wave. The causes for, and the results of, the breakdown of this mountain wave are discussed.