The zonal wave components 1 and 2 were extracted from the meridional wind along the latitude band of 51–66°N for the years 2000–2008 using eight Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radars spanning longitudes from 25°E to 150°W. Each extracted zonal component represents the superposition of all temporal periods with that zonal structure and indicates the total planetary wave energy available with that wave number. The Hovmöller diagrams show stationary as well as eastward and westward traveling planetary waves propagating in the background wind. The method used to detect the zonal planetary wave components in the SuperDARN data are detailed and validated using UK Meteorological Office data, which allows the evolution of S1 and S2 planetary wave energy between the stratosphere and mesosphere to be assessed. The climatology of zonal wave number 1 and 2 planetary wave activity in the mesosphere‐lower thermosphere (MLT) is presented and compared to the activity in the stratosphere. The MLT climatology of the mean wind anomalies shows stronger planetary wave activity during winter and weaker activity during summer with enhancement around midsummer and autumn equinox. The climatology of the mean wind displays similar amplitudes apart from very strong S1 planetary wave amplitudes during summer. In addition planetary wave activity during winters with major and minor stratospheric warming events are examined and contrasted.

Abstract. Four years of noctilucent cloud (NLC) images from an automated digital camera in Trondheim and results from a ray tracing model are used to extend the climatology of gravity waves to higher latitudes and to identify their sources at high latitudes during summertime. The climatology of the summertime gravity-waves detected in NLC between 64° and 74° N is similar to that observed between 60° and 64° N by Pautet et al. (2011). The direction of propagation of gravity waves observed in the NLC north of 64° N is a continuation of the north and northeast propagation as observed in south of 64° N. However, a unique population of fast, short wavelength waves propagating towards the SW is observed in the NLC, which is consistent with transverse instabilities generated in-situ by breaking gravity waves (Fritts et al., 2003). The relative amplitude of the waves observed in the NLC Mie-scatter have been combined with ray-tracing results to show that waves propagating from near the tropopause, rather than those resulting from secondary generation in the stratosphere or mesosphere, are more likely to be the sources of the prominent wave structures observed in the NLC. The coastal region of Norway along the latitude of 70° N is identified as the primary source region of the waves generated near the tropopause.

Nightly averaged mesospheric temperature derived from the hydroxyl nightglow at Rothera station (67°34' S, 68°08' W) and nightly midnight measurements of ozone mixing ratio obtained from Troll station (72°01' S, 2°32' E) in Antarctica have been used to investigate the presence and vertical profile of the quasi-16-day planetary wave in the stratosphere and mesosphere during the Antarctic winter of 2009. The variations caused by planetary waves on the ozone mixing ratio and temperature are discussed, and spectral and cross-correlation analyses are performed to extract the wave amplitudes and to examine the vertical structure of the wave from 34 to 80 km. The results show that while planetary-wave signatures with periods 3–12 days are strong below the stratopause, the oscillations associated with the 16-day wave are the strongest and present in both the mesosphere and stratosphere. The period of the wave is found to increase below 42 km due to the Doppler shifting by the strong eastward zonal wind. The 16-day oscillation in the temperature is found to be correlated and phase coherent with the corresponding oscillation observed in O₃ volume mixing ratio at all levels, and the wave is found to have vertical phase fronts consistent with a normal mode structure

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