Atmospheric tides forced by troposphere heating: Longitudinal variability of upper atmosphere consequences

This PhD work is motivated by the unprecedented observations provided by the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument on the TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) spacecraft. Through creative methods that avoid aliasing problems between tidal variations and mean background temporal variations, a fairly clear picture of both migrating and nonmigrating solar thermal tides from the stratosphere to the MLT (Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere) region is obtained. The background structures in zonal mean temperatures, geopotential, and the zonal mean gradient zonal winds are also achieved. By retrieving net radiative heating rate profiles from the most updated solar radiative fluxes provided by ISCCP/NASA-GISS (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project/NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies) and constructing latent heating rate profiles from the most recent TRMM/NASA-GSFC (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) daily latent heating profiles and 3-hourly TRMM rainfall rates, total tropospheric tidal heating rate profiles are obtained. The Global Scale Wave Model (GSWM) is thus updated with the new tropospheric heat sources and observed mean background inputs to result in the latest version of GSWM, GSWM-09. By comparing GSWM-09 and SABER tidal signatures, the importance of troposphere heat energy in driving atmospheric tides in the MLT region is confirmed and the relative importance of radiative and latent heat sources for migrating and nonmigrating tides is demonstrated with emphasis on longitudinal variability of MLT tides. It confirms that the eastward-propagating diurnal tide with zonal wave number 3 is the outstanding nonmigrating tide due to the topography-modulated tropospheric heating. The critical factors for the seasonal-latitudinal variations of DE3 are examined based on classical tidal theory and its modern developments, since these variations are much improved in GSWM-09, taking observed SABER tidal signatures as the reference. It demonstrates that both mean zonal wind and tropospheric heating are critical in determining the seasonal-latitudional variations of DE3.