Extraction of Quasi-Monochromatic Gravity Waves from an Airglow Imager Network

An algorithm has been developed to isolate the gravity waves (GWs) of different scales from airglow images. Based on the discrete wavelet transform, the images are decomposed and then reconstructed in a series of mutually orthogonal spaces, each of which takes a Daubechies (db) wavelet of a certain scale as a basis vector. The GWs in the original airglow image are stripped to the peeled image reconstructed in each space, and the scale of wave patterns in a peeled image corresponds to the scale of the db wavelet as a basis vector. In each reconstructed image, the extracted GW is quasi-monochromatic. An adaptive band-pass filter is applied to enhance the GW structures. From an ensembled airglow image with a coverage of 2100 km × 1200 km using an all-sky airglow imager (ASAI) network, the quasi-monochromatic wave patterns are extracted using this algorithm. GWs range from ripples with short wavelength of 20 km to medium-scale GWs with a wavelength of 590 km. The images are denoised, and the propagating characteristics of GWs with different wavelengths are derived separately.

Growth Rate of Gravity Wave Amplitudes Observed in Sodium Lidar Density Profiles and Nightglow Image Data

Amplitude growth rates of quasi-monochromatic gravity waves were estimated and compared from multiple instrument measurements carried out in Brazil. Gravity wave parameters, such as the wave amplitude and growth rate in distinct altitudes, were derived from sodium lidar density and nightglow all-sky images. Lidar observations were carried out in São Jose dos Campos (23 ∘ S, 46 ∘ W) from 1994 to 2004, while all-sky imagery of multiple airglow layers was conducted in Cachoeira Paulista (23 ∘ S, 45 ∘ W) from 1999–2000 and 2004–2005. We have found that most of the measured amplitude growth rates indicate dissipative behavior for gravity waves identified in both lidar profiles and airglow image datasets. Only a small fraction of the observed wave events (4% imager; 9% lidar) are nondissipative (freely propagating waves). Our findings also show that imager waves are strongly dissipated within the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region (MLT), decaying in amplitude in short distances (<12 km), while lidar waves tend to maintain a constant amplitude within that region. Part of the observed waves (16% imager; 36% lidar) showed unchanging amplitude with altitude (saturated waves). About 51.6% of the imager waves present strong attenuation (overdamped waves) in contrast with 9% of lidar waves. The general saturated or damped behavior is consistent with diffusive filtering processes imposing limits to amplitude growth rates of the observed gravity waves.

Automatic Extraction of Gravity Waves from All-Sky Airglow Image Based on Machine Learning

With the development of ground-based all-sky airglow imager (ASAI) technology, a large amount of airglow image data needs to be processed for studying atmospheric gravity waves. We developed a program to automatically extract gravity wave patterns in the ASAI images. The auto-extraction program includes a classification model based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and an object detection model based on faster region-based convolutional neural network (Faster R-CNN). The classification model selects the images of clear nights from all ASAI raw images. The object detection model locates the region of wave patterns. Then, the wave parameters (horizontal wavelength, period, direction, etc.) can be calculated within the region of the wave patterns. Besides auto-extraction, we applied a wavelength check to remove the interference of wavelike mist near the imager. To validate the auto-extraction program, a case study was conducted on the images captured in 2014 at Linqu (36.2°N, 118.7°E), China. Compared to the result of the manual check, the auto-extraction recognized less (28.9% of manual result) wave-containing images due to the strict threshold, but the result shows the same seasonal variation as the references. The auto-extraction program applies a uniform criterion to avoid the accidental error in manual distinction of gravity waves and offers a reliable method to process large ASAI images for efficiently studying the climatology of atmospheric gravity waves.

Comparison of gravity wave propagation directions observed by mesospheric airglow imaging at three different latitudes using the M-transform

We developed user-friendly software based on Matsuda et al.'s (2014) 3D-FFT method (Matsuda-transform, M-transform) for airglow imaging data analysis as a function of Interactive Data Language (IDL). Users can customize the range of wave parameters to process when executing the program. The input for this function is a 3-D array of a time series of a 2-D airglow image in geographical coordinates. We applied this new function to mesospheric airglow imaging data with slightly different observation parameters obtained for the period of April–May at three different latitudes: Syowa Station, the Antarctic (69∘ S, 40∘ E); Shigaraki, Japan (35∘ N, 136∘ E); and Tomohon, Indonesia (1∘ N, 122∘ E). The day-to-day variation of the phase velocity spectrum at the Syowa Station is smaller and the propagation direction is mainly westward. In Shigaraki, the day-to-day variation of the horizontal propagation direction is larger than that at the Syowa Station; the variation in Tomohon is even larger. In Tomohon, the variation of the nightly power spectrum magnitude is remarkable, which indicates the intermittency of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs). The average nightly spectrum obtained from April–May shows that the dominant propagation is westward with a phase speed <50 m s−1 at the Syowa Station and east-southeastward with a phase speed of up to ∼80 m s−1 in Shigaraki. The day-to-day variation in Tomohon is too strong to discuss average characteristics; however, a phase speed of up to ∼100 m s−1 and faster is observed. The corresponding background wind profiles derived from MERRA-2 indicate that wind filtering plays a significant role in filtering out waves that propagate eastward at the Syowa Station. On the other hand, the background wind is not strong enough to filter out relatively high-speed AGWs in Shigaraki and Tomohon and the dominant propagation direction is likely related to the distribution and characteristics of the source region, at least in April and May.

Comparison of gravity wave propagation direction observed by mesospheric airglow imaging at three different latitudes by using M-transform

We have developed a user-friendly software based on Matsuda et al. (2014) 3D-FFT method (M-Transform) for airglow imaging data analysis, as a function on Interactive Data Language (IDL), in which users can customize the range of wave parameters to process when executing the program. Input of this function is 3D array of a time series of 2D airglow image in geographical coordinate. We have applied this new function to mesospheric airglow imaging data with slightly different observation parameters obtained for the period of April-May at three different latitudes; Syowa Station, the Antarctic (69° S, 40° E), Shigaraki, Japan (35° N, 136° E), and Tomohon, Indonesia (1° N, 122° E). Day-to-day variation of phase velocity spectrum at Syowa Station was smaller and propagation direction was mainly westward. At Shigaraki, the day-to-day variation of horizontal propagation direction was larger than at Syowa Station, and the variation at Tomohon was even larger. At Tomohon variation of nightly power spectrum magnitude was remarkable, which suggests intermittency of atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs). The average of nightly spectrum in April–May showed that at Syowa Station dominant propagation was westward with phase speed <50 m/s, and at Shigaraki east/south-eastward propagation with phase speed up to ~80 m/s was prevailing. A Tomohon, day-to-day variation was too strong to discuss about average characteristics, however it showed a phase speed up to ~100 m/s and faster. The corresponding background wind profiles derived from MERRA-2 indicated that at Syowa Station, wind filtering played significant role in filtering out waves propagated eastward. On the other hand, at Shigaraki and Tomohon, the background winds were not strong enough to filter out the relatively high speed AGWs and that the dominant propagation direction was likely more related to the distribution/characteristic of the source region, at least in April and May.

Equatorial spread <I>F</I> fossil plumes

Behaviour of equatorial spread F (ESF) fossil plumes, i.e., ESF plumes that have stopped rising, is examined using the NRL SAMI3/ESF three-dimensional simulation code. We find that fossil bubbles, plasma density depletions associated with fossil plumes, can persist as high-altitude equatorial depletions even while being "blown" by zonal winds. Corresponding airglow-proxy images of fossil plumes, plots of electron density versus longitude and latitude at a constant altitude of 288 km, are shown to partially "fill in" in most cases, beginning with the highest altitude field lines within the plume. Specifically, field lines upon which the E field has fallen entirely to zero are affected and only the low altitude (≤600 km) portion if each field line fills in. This suggests that it should be possible to observe a bubble at high altitude on a field line for which the corresponding airglow image no longer shows a depletion. In all cases ESF plumes stop rising when the flux-tube-integrated ion mass density inside the upper edge of the bubble is equal to that of the nearby background, further supporting the result of Krall et al. (2010b).