One year of MLT dynamics over central and northern Peru from SIMONe systems
- 1Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Radar Remote Sensing, Kühlungsborn, Germany (conte@iap-kborn.de)
- 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Space Weather Laboratory, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
- 3Radio Observatorio de Jicamarca, Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Lima, Peru
- 4Universidad de Piura, Piura, Peru
One year of Spread spectrum Interferometric Multistatic meteor radar Observing Network (SIMONe) measurements are analyzed and compared for the first time between two low-latitude locations in Peru: Jicamarca (12°S, 77°W) and Piura (5°S, 80°W). Investigation of the mean horizontal winds and tides reveals that mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) planetary-scale dynamics are similar between these two locations, although differences can be seen in some tidal components, e.g., the diurnal tide. On the other hand, monthly median values of the 4-hour, 4-km momentum fluxes indicate that the mesoscale dynamics differ significantly between Jicamarca and Piura. These differences are particularly evident during the (southern hemisphere’s) summertime in the zonal component, where a strong acceleration of the background wind by westward-propagating gravity waves (GWs) is observed at all altitudes (80-100 km) only over Piura. The latter finding observationally confirms the previous studies based on model simulations indicating that the directions of the GW drag and the background wind coincide in the low-latitude MLT [Yiğit & Medvedev, 2017].
How to cite: Conte, F., Chau, J., Yiğit, E., Suclupe, J., Kuyeng, K., and Rodríguez, R.: One year of MLT dynamics over central and northern Peru from SIMONe systems, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11006, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11006, 2023.
