Thermal and dynamic perturbations in the winter polar upper atmosphere associated with a major sudden stratospheric warming

Abstract

During a major sudden stratospheric warming occurred in 2009 specific signatures of atmosphere-ionosphere coupling is observed in the vicinity the stratospheric polar night jet. Wind reversal from eastward to westward occurred at 80-100 km altitude. The magnitude of mesospheric cooling is comparable with the stratospheric warming (∼ 50 K) but the former decay faster than the latter. Deepening of the thermal inversion layer at the mesopause is observed during the peak of the mesospheric cooling. A shorter period atmospheric gravity wave occurrence in the ionosphere decays just after the mesospheric temperature reaches its minimum. The effect may be explained by selective filtering and increased turbulence near the mesopause. KEYWORDS: Polar stratosphere; mesosphere; atmospheric circulation; sudden stratospheric warming.Citation: Lukianova, Renata (2016), Thermal and dynamic perturbations in the winter polar upper atmosphere associated with a major sudden stratospheric warming, Russ.