Dynamical origins of upper atmospheric variability

近百公里高空大气是一个受上下大气影响的复杂区域。从上面，太阳紫外线辐射被吸收，将分子分解成原子，并去除电子形成离子。由此产生的化学物质产生气辉的可见光，可以使用地面上的光学仪器或从上面的太空中探测到。原子氧是气辉的长期驱动力，因此可以用作大气运动的示踪剂，提供了一种研究这些高度的动力学的方法，部分使用了申请者设计的加拿大空间仪器(WINDII)，该仪器于1991年至2003年在NASA的卫星上飞行。由他的实验室开发的光谱气辉温度成像仪(SATI)位于加拿大北部的Resolute Bay(74 N)的地面上，自2001年以来一直在测量高层大气的气辉和温度。冬季之间的巨大变化被发现受到太阳变化以及赤道东西向风的控制，这是一个显著的动力影响。冬季气辉和温度的巨大相关变化被发现源于行星波，也就是天气波，它们是从下面上来的。研究还发现，中上层87公里处的温度与平流层下部22公里处的温度存在相关性。这些发现将被用来理解这种可变性。建议将Resolute Bay的数据集从2001年开始扩展到覆盖一个太阳周期11年，同时通过大气模式探索上层中间层和下层平流层之间的耦合。将对1991年至2003年获得的卫星数据进行进一步分析，并将使用其他卫星的数据。此外，申请人还参与了将在哈萨克斯坦航天器上飞行的气辉相机的设计和制造，以确定地震前兆是否会在气辉中产生扰动。随着对气辉可变性的了解已经确立，就有可能提前探测到地震，如果发现存在地震，这是一种非常不寻常和重要的大气可变性形式。

The upper atmosphere near 100 km is a complex region influenced by the atmosphere above and below. From above, solar ultraviolet radiation is absorbed, splitting molecules into atoms, and removing electrons to form ions. The resulting chemistry produces airglow, visible light that may be sensed using optical instrumentation on the ground below, or from space above. Atomic oxygen is a long-lived driver for airglow, and so may be used as a tracer for atmospheric motions, providing a way to study the dynamics at these altitudes, in part using a Canadian space instrument (WINDII) of the applicant's design flown on a NASA satellite from 1991 to 2003. A Spectral Airglow Temperature Imager (SATI) developed in his laboratory and located on the ground at Resolute Bay (74 N) in northern Canada has measured upper atmospheric airglow and temperature since 2001. Large winter to winter variations are found to be controlled by solar variation, as well as by the east-west wind at the equator, a remarkable dynamical influence. Large correlated variations in airglow and temperature during the winter are found to originate with planetary waves, weather waves, coming up from below. It was also discovered that the temperatures in the upper mesosphere at 87 km correlate with those at 22 km, in the lower stratosphere. These discoveries will be exploited in moving towards understanding this variability. It is proposed to extend the Resolute Bay dataset from its beginning in 2001 to cover one solar cycle of eleven years and at the same time to explore the coupling between the upper mesosphere and lower stratosphere through atmospheric models. The satellite data acquired from 1991 to 2003 will be further analyzed and data from other satellites will be employed as well. In addition, the applicant is involved in the design and fabrication of an airglow camera to be flown on a Kazakh spacecraft, to determine if earthquake precursors produce perturbations in the airglow. With the understanding of airglow variability that has been established, it will be possible to detect earthquakes in advance, a very unusual and important form of atmospheric variability if it is found to exist.