Airglow measurements of wave damping at upper mesospheric altitudes over a low latitude station in India

Abstract

In this paper, nighttime mesospheric OH and O₂ temperature variability over Gadanki, a low latitude station in the Indian sector during February 2010 have been studied. It has been noted that mesospheric wave amplitudes show large variability from one night to the other. Occasionally, the mesospheric waves show larger amplitudes in O₂ data compared to the amplitudes of similar period waves in OH data indicating the amplification in wave amplitudes. For the waves noted simultaneously at OH and O₂ data, the damping factors have been calculated. The analysis reveals a highly dynamic upper mesosphere with some of the waves showing upward propagation (damping factor < 1), some reaching to their saturation levels (damping factor ~1) and few waves getting strongly damped (damping factor >1).