The Tidal Response in the Mesosphere/Lower Thermosphere to the Madden-Julian Oscillation Observed by SABER

Komal Kumari, Jens Oberheide, Xian Lu

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18 Scopus citations

Abstract

A statistical study of 18 years of diurnal temperature tides observed by the SABER instrument on board the TIMED satellite reveals a substantial response of the tides in the upper atmosphere (>60 km) to the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) in the tropical troposphere. Nonmigrating tidal amplitudes are modulated at the intraseasonal MJO periods up to ~25% relative to the seasonal mean, twice as much as for the migrating tides (~10%). We fully characterize the tidal response for active MJO days as a function of season and MJO location as prescribed by the MJO index. The MJO modulation of the tides was predicted by models but could not be unequivocally observed before. Our results further point to an important role of background winds that partly cause a different response for equatorial and nonequatorial tidal modes in different seasons, which has implications for the MJO imprint on the ionospheric dynamo region.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2020GL089172
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume47
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 28 2020

Keywords

  • atmospheric tides
  • intraseasonal oscillations
  • Madden-Julian oscillation
  • mesosphere/lower thermosphere
  • SABER
  • space weather

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