The diurnal zonal vertical wavelengths are similar to the meridional, except for the winter months when the zonal vertical wavelengths are much longer, occasionally exceeding 100 km. Semidiurnal amplitudes are observed to be significantly smaller than diurnal amplitudes. Semidiurnal vertical wavelengths range from 20 to more than 100 km. Our observations of tidal amplitudes and phases are compared with the predictions of the extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (eCMAM) and the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). Both eCMAM and WACCM reproduce the trend for greater diurnal amplitudes in the meridional component than the zonal. However, eCMAM tends to overestimate meridional amplitudes, while WACCM underestimates both zonal and meridional amplitudes. Vertical wavelength predictions are generally good for both models; however, eCMAM predicts shorter diurnal zonal vertical wavelengths than are observed in winter, while WACCM predicts longer zonal vertical wavelengths than observed for the semidiurnal tide for most months. Semidiurnal amplitude predictions are generally good for both models. It is found that larger-than-average diurnal and semidiurnal tidal amplitudes occur when the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) at 10 hPa is eastwards, and smaller-than-average amplitudes occur when it is westwards. Correlations between the amplitude perturbations and the El Niño Southern Oscillation are also found. The precise mechanism for these correlations remains unclear.

[1] We use the extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM), a general circulation model (GCM), to investigate the nature of the terdiurnal tide. Temperature and horizontal winds from a model run are analyzed to delineate the character of this tide for zonal wave numbers s = −5 to +5. Descriptions of the annual mean amplitudes, seasonal variations, and total tide superposed from the migrating and 10 nonmigrating components are provided. The amplitudes and vertical wavelengths of the various components and the total terdiurnal tide are found to depend strongly on season, latitude, and altitude. The migrating terdiurnal component maximizes at mid and high latitudes with significant amplitudes (annual mean amplitude in wind (temperature) >10 m/s (K)) in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region. Between 80 and 100 km, maximum amplitudes occur in winter in both hemispheres, whereas above 100 km, maximum amplitudes occur during solstices. For the zonal wind field, the nonmigrating terdiurnal components Te5, Te3, Te4, Tw4, and Tw5 tend to peak at >50°N/S with amplitudes between 2 and 8 m/s. The other nonmigrating components maximize in the polar regions with amplitudes of 2-10 m/s. Possible generation mechanisms (solar heating and nonlinear interactions) for the migrating terdiurnal tide in the MLT region are also examined. Correlation analysis indicates that nonlinear interactions between the migrating diurnal and semidiurnal tides are unlikely to be the source of the migrating terdiurnal tide.

The extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (eCMAM) was recently run in a nudged mode using reanalysis data from the ground to 1 hPa for the period of January 1979 to June 2010 (hence the name eCMAM30). In this paper, eCMAM30 temperature is used to examine the background mean temperature, the spectrum of the diurnal tides, and the climatology of the migrating diurnal tide Dw1 and three nonmigrating diurnal tides De3, Dw2, and Ds0 in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. The model results are then compared to the diurnal tidal climatology derived from Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) observations between 40 to 110 km and 50°S to 50°N from January 2002 to December 2013. The model reproduces the latitudinal background mean temperature gradients well except that the cold mesopause temperature in eCMAM30 is 10 to 20 K colder than SABER. The diurnal tidal spectra and their relative strengths compare very well between eCMAM30 and SABER. The altitude-latitude structures for the four diurnal tidal components (Dw1, De3, Dw2, and Ds0) from the two datasets are also in very good agreement even for structures in the stratosphere with a weaker amplitude. The largest discrepancy between the model and SABER is associated with the seasonal variation of De3. In addition to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer maximum, a secondary maximum occurs during NH winter (December-February) in the model but is absent in SABER. The seasonal variations of the other three diurnal tidal components are in good agreement. Interannual time series of Dw1 and De3 from both eCMAM30 and SABER reveal variability with a period of 25 to 26 months, which indicates the modulation of the diurnal tides by the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO).

[1] The atmospheric limb sounding technique making use of radio signals transmitted by the Global Positioning System (GPS) has already proven to be a promising approach for global atmospheric measurements. In this study, we assess for the first time the potential of GPS radio occultation soundings for detecting the migrating diurnal tide. Retrieved temperatures between 10 and 30 km in the tropics from the Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) occultation observations during May 2001 to August 2005 are analyzed using space-time spectrum analysis to isolate diurnal waves. Because of incomplete local time (LT) coverage of the monthly CHAMP occultation data in any given year, data from all available years are merged to obtain complete 24-h LT coverage. The effects of aliasing associated with uneven data sampling and measurement noise are estimated using synthetic data. The results show the feasibility of determining tidal structures from the composite CHAMP occultation data, and the vertical, seasonal, and latitudinal structures of the diurnal tide are presented. The estimated diurnal amplitude generally increases with altitude, exhibiting a maximum of order 1 K at 30 km. The estimated phase indicates an upward propagating mode above 14 km with a vertical wavelength about 20 km. The observed diurnal tide at 30 km exhibits a distinct seasonallatitudinal variation. Comparison of the observed diurnal tide to the simulated tide in the extended Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) and Global-Scale Wave Model Version 2 (GSWM02) indicates that CMAM overestimates the amplitude but reproduces the seasonal-latitudinal variation of the diurnal tide while GSWM02 simulates well the annual mean amplitude but lacks the seasonal-latitudinal variation of the diurnal tide.