[1] The new Horizontal Wind Model (HWM07) provides a statistical representation of the horizontal wind fields of the Earth's atmosphere from the ground to the exosphere (0-500 km). It represents over 50 years of satellite, rocket, and ground-based wind measurements via a compact Fortran 90 subroutine. The computer model is a function of geographic location, altitude, day of the year, solar local time, and geomagnetic activity. It includes representations of the zonal mean circulation, stationary planetary waves, migrating tides, and the seasonal modulation thereof. HWM07 is composed of two components, a quiet time component for the background state described in this paper and a geomagnetic storm time component (DWM07) described in a companion paper.
This paper describes the characteristics of the mean winds, equatorial waves with periods ranging from 4 to 20 days, and diurnal tides determined by analyzing the profiles of wind velocity, temperature, and humidity obtained every 5–7 hours in the height range up to about 35 km with a height resolution of 150 m during an observation campaign conducted February 27 to March 22, 1990, in East Java, Indonesia. The structures of the mean winds in the troposphere and lower stratosphere seemed to be affected by the Australian monsoon and the quasi‐biennial oscillation, respectively. Frequency spectra indicated that the equatorial waves as well as the diurnal tides were dominant below about 25 km, while gravity waves with periods shorter than 4 days became more significant above 25 km. A 7‐day oscillation showing an antiphase relation between the eastward and northward components and exhibiting large amplitudes was observed in the lower troposphere. The time‐height variations of the activity of this 7‐day oscillation were clearly correlated with a region of high relative humidity. Perturbations in the zonal wind and temperature with wave periods varying from 15 to 17 days were also enhanced in the troposphere, while Kelvin waves with periods of about 7 and 20 days were detected in the lower stratosphere, and activity near the tropopause was conspicuously enhanced. We found that the 20‐day Kelvin wave greatly modified the structure of the tropopause, such as the minimum temperature, the tropopause height, and the values of the Brunt‐Väisälä frequency squared N2, which further suggests the effects of Kelvin waves on the transportation of tropospheric water vapor into the stratosphere and on the downward mixing of stratospheric minor constituents into the troposphere. The observed profiles of the diurnal oscillation were compared with those of a numerical model assuming only migrating tides, which reasonably agreed above about 25 km. Below 25 km, however, the observed amplitudes were 1–1.5 m/s, exceeding those of the model about 10 times. Moreover, the phase profiles involved fluctuations with small vertical scales, suggesting interference by many nonmigrating tides with short vertical wavelengths.
The Superconducting Submillimeter‐Wave Limb‐Emission Sounder (SMILES) was successfully launched and attached to the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) on the International Space Station (ISS) on 25 September 2009. It has been making atmospheric observations since 12 October 2009 with the aid of a 4 K mechanical cooler and superconducting mixers for submillimeter limb‐emission sounding in the frequency bands of 624.32–626.32 GHz and 649.12–650.32 GHz . On the basis of the observed spectra, the data processing has been retrieving vertical profiles for the atmospheric minor constituents in the middle atmosphere, such as O3 with isotopes, HCl, ClO, HO2, BrO, and HNO3. Results from SMILES have demonstrated its high potential to observe atmospheric minor constituents in the middle atmosphere. Unfortunately, SMILES observations have been suspended since 21 April 2010 owing to the failure of a critical component.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.