TIMED Doppler Interferometer measurements of neutral winds at the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and comparison to meteor radar winds
Abstract. The mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) comprise a highly variable region that forms the transition region between the middle and upper atmosphere. The variability of this region is driven by atmospheric waves transporting energy and momentum from the lower and middle atmosphere to MLT altitudes. These waves cover a wide range of temporal (minutes to days) and spatial (kilometers to planetary) scales. The upward propagation of atmospheric gravity waves and tides is one of the key processes at all latitudes that alters the state of the ionosphere–thermosphere system, and their vertical propagation depends crucially on the background mean winds. The TIMED Doppler Interferometer (TIDI) on board the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite observes neutral winds at the MLT using airglow emissions. We establish a TIDI mean wind climatology, compare our results with existing climatologies derived from local meteor radar observations, and discuss similarities and differences depending on local time and geographical latitude.
Authors
- Gunter Stober (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7909-6345)
- Christoph Jacobi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7878-0110)
- Denis Vida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4166-8704)
- Diego Janches (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8615-5166)
- M. Lester (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7353-5549)
- N. J. Mitchell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1149-8484)
- Peter Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6130-7039)
- Satonori Nozawa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4359-6524)
- Johan Kero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2177-6751)
- Njål Gulbrandsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5009-0652)
- Alexander Kozlovsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1468-7600)
- Masaki Tsutsumi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0113-8311)
- Claudia Borries (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9948-3353)
- D. J. Murphy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-5560)
- Tracy Moffat‐Griffin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9670-6715)
- Arthur Gauthier
Institutions
- University of Bern (CH)
- Western University (CA)
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- British Antarctic Survey (GB)
- Swedish Institute of Space Physics (SE)
- Australian Antarctic Division (AU)
- University of Leicester (GB)
- The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
- National Institute of Polar Research (JP)
- University Hospital Leipzig (DE)
- University of Bath (GB)
- Nagoya University (JP)
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO)
- Leipzig University (DE)
- University of Oulu (FI)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Annales Geophysicae
- Published
- 2025-07-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-427-2025
- Primary Topic
- Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Science and Technology Facilities Council
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Australian Antarctic Division