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Special issue of JASTP on structure and dynamics of Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere region
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 78-79 (2012) 1
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp
Preface
Special issue of JASTP on structure and dynamics of Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere region
In this special issue, we mainly focus on the recent advances in the understanding of the structure and dynamics of mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). The issue was an outgrowth of the Asia-Oceanic Geophysical Society (AOGS) Annual General Meeting, held in Hyderabad, from 5 to 9 July 2010. Papers from this workshop formed a core, but invitations for contributions were extended to many interested researchers. As the title of the special issue suggests, papers with a wide range of topics ranging from solar cycle signal in the mesospheric temperature and ozone to short period gravity waves were received for this special issue. In total, there were 15 papers submitted for the special issue. Only one paper was rejected. The review process took significant amount of time and several revisions were allowed aiming at quality papers. Most of the papers have utilized the data obtained from the instruments commonly used for the MLT observations that include MF and meteor radars, Rayleigh lidar and airglow imager and temperature/ozone information obtained from HALOE and SABER instruments onboard UARS and TIMED satellites. Quite a few papers including a theoretical paper are on mesospheric variabilities in relation with the sudden stratospheric warming events. Mesospheric tidal variabilities remain a hot topic, which has been addressed in a few papers. In a paper, it is shown that there is an excellent agreement between GSWM model and observations of seasonal variation of diurnal tide of zonal wavenumber 3, which is a dominant component. This work stresses on
1364-6826/$ - see front matter & 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2012.02.017
the influence of heating and background wind distribution on the tidal variabilities. One paper focuses on mesospheric lunar tidal variabilities, which are important from the point of view of variabilities of ionospheric current system. There is also a paper on intrusion of carbon monoxide from mesosphere to stratosphere during a major sudden stratospheric warming. The elevated stratopause observed during a major warming event is explained in one paper as due to adiabatic warming induced by gravity wave drag. We would especially like to thank Prof. Markus Rapp, who suggested us to bringout the special issue and the reviewers who offered their valuable comments and suggestions to the papers submitted. We also appreciate the assistance rendered by the editorial staff at JASTP Editorial office, who manages the review process by actively responding to submissions and queries from the authors. We hope that this special issue will be useful to MLT scientific research community all over the world and will be highly referred. Guest Editors, S. Sridharan National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki, India
S. Gurubaran Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, EGRL, Tirunelveli, India
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jastp
Preface
Special issue of JASTP on structure and dynamics of Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere region
In this special issue, we mainly focus on the recent advances in the understanding of the structure and dynamics of mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT). The issue was an outgrowth of the Asia-Oceanic Geophysical Society (AOGS) Annual General Meeting, held in Hyderabad, from 5 to 9 July 2010. Papers from this workshop formed a core, but invitations for contributions were extended to many interested researchers. As the title of the special issue suggests, papers with a wide range of topics ranging from solar cycle signal in the mesospheric temperature and ozone to short period gravity waves were received for this special issue. In total, there were 15 papers submitted for the special issue. Only one paper was rejected. The review process took significant amount of time and several revisions were allowed aiming at quality papers. Most of the papers have utilized the data obtained from the instruments commonly used for the MLT observations that include MF and meteor radars, Rayleigh lidar and airglow imager and temperature/ozone information obtained from HALOE and SABER instruments onboard UARS and TIMED satellites. Quite a few papers including a theoretical paper are on mesospheric variabilities in relation with the sudden stratospheric warming events. Mesospheric tidal variabilities remain a hot topic, which has been addressed in a few papers. In a paper, it is shown that there is an excellent agreement between GSWM model and observations of seasonal variation of diurnal tide of zonal wavenumber 3, which is a dominant component. This work stresses on
1364-6826/$ - see front matter & 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.jastp.2012.02.017
the influence of heating and background wind distribution on the tidal variabilities. One paper focuses on mesospheric lunar tidal variabilities, which are important from the point of view of variabilities of ionospheric current system. There is also a paper on intrusion of carbon monoxide from mesosphere to stratosphere during a major sudden stratospheric warming. The elevated stratopause observed during a major warming event is explained in one paper as due to adiabatic warming induced by gravity wave drag. We would especially like to thank Prof. Markus Rapp, who suggested us to bringout the special issue and the reviewers who offered their valuable comments and suggestions to the papers submitted. We also appreciate the assistance rendered by the editorial staff at JASTP Editorial office, who manages the review process by actively responding to submissions and queries from the authors. We hope that this special issue will be useful to MLT scientific research community all over the world and will be highly referred. Guest Editors, S. Sridharan National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Gadanki, India
S. Gurubaran Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, EGRL, Tirunelveli, India