Suomi NPP VIIRS/DNB imagery of nightglow gravity waves from various sources over China. Issue 8 (15th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lai, Chang; Yue, Jia; Xu, Jiyao; Straka, William C.; Miller, Steven D.; Liu, Xiao
• Is Part Of: Advances in space research. Volume 59:Issue 8(2017)
• Page Start: 1951
• Page End: 1961
• Publication Date: 2017-04-15
• Subjects: Gravity waves -- Day/Night band -- Mountain waves -- Convection -- Jets and fronts; Space sciences -- Periodicals; Astronautics -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 500.505
• DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2017.01.041
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0273-1177

Abstract

Abstract: Observation of atmospheric gravity waves provides critical insight to weather and climate researches. Some gravity waves survive middle-atmospheric filtering as they propagate upward to the mesopause region and disturb the nightglow emission layer near 90 km AMSL, making the waves visible to both ground and space sensors. Based on the high-resolution images obtained by Day/Night Band on NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership environmental satellite, four representative gravity wave events over China are analyzed. With the help of VIIRS thermal infrared brightness temperature and MERRA wind data, we surmise that these waves originated from orography, thunderstorm, typhoon and baroclinic, respectively. Nadir viewing satellite observations cover a wide area and unlike the surface-based perspective, do not suffer from cloud obscuration. These new observations over remote areas provide important guidance for future deployment of ground based camera systems in China.