Investigating Winter-time Mesospheric Gravity Waves Variations Observed at ALOMAR (69°), Norway

Atmospheric gravity waves generated in the lower atmosphere propagate upwards and carry energy and momentum into the upper atmosphere strongly affecting the mesospheric temperature structure. The Advanced Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (AMTM), developed at Utah State University (USU), is designed to study high latitude mesospheric dynamics by measuring the OH (3,1) band intensity and temperatures even with the presence of Aurora. In 2010, the AMTM was deployed at Arctic Lidar Observatory For Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR) in northern Norway, (69° N) and has operated automatically during the winter season (September through April) until 2017. High quality winter-time mesospheric temperature and OH band intensity data were obtained from this high latitude site. In this study, we will utilize the 7 seasons of zenith temperature measurements from ALOMAR to investigate the intra-seasonal and inter-annual variations of gravity waves during the winter season.