Short period airglow temperature and emission rate oscillations in the high Arctic MLT region during stratospheric warming events

Abstract:

The airglow is a photochemical glow in the upper atmosphere that occurs in thin layers corresponding to different chemical processes. The O₂ Atmospheric airglow layer exists at about 94 km altitude and the hydroxyl layer at about 87 km. The intensity of the light gives information about the concentration of atomic oxygen there, while the shape of the spectrum gives accurate values of the temperature. In this investigation, these are measured above Eureka in the Canadian Arctic (80N, 86W) using an instrument called SATI (Spectral Airglow Temperature Imager). The optical data are employed to characterize short period oscillations in rotational temperatures and integral emission rates of OH (6,2) Meinel and O₂ (0,1) Atm. bands during a stratospheric warming event from January 2015. In this presentation, SATI observations coupled with wind radiosonde data at Eureka and the ECMWF model are used to compare the January 2015 warming with the major stratospheric warming event of January 2009, thereby providing a window into high frequency atmospheric wave dynamics at play between altitudes of 20 km – 100 km.