DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15593213
title: Gravity wave potential energy density obtained from high-resolution observations of OH airglow rotational temperatures from the mesopause region above Europe during the minimum between solar cycles 24 and 25

description: The gravity wave potential energy density (GWPED) estimates for wave periods longer than 60 minutes are derived from observations of OH(3-1) airglow temperatures. The respective airglow emissions originate from a thin layer in approximately 86-87 km centroid height and respective spectra have been obtained with the Ground-based Infrared P-branch Spectrometers (GRIPS) at eight different sites located across Europe. These are located at Oberpfaffenhofen (OPN; 48.09°N, 11.28°E), Germany, at Otlica Observatory (OTL; 45.94°N, 13.91°E), Slovenia, at Sonnblick Observatory (SBO; 47.05°N, 12.96°E), Austria, at the Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus (UFS; 47.42°N, 10.98°E), Germany, at the Evgeni Kharadze Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory in Abastumani (ABA; 42.82°N, 41.75°E), Georgia, at Catania (CAT; 37.51°N, 15.04°E), Italy, at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP; 43.93°N, 5.71°E), France and at Wuppertal (WUP; 51.25°N, 7.15°E), Germany. The data set covers the time period from the night of 31st July 2019 to 1st October 2019 (62 nights). All instruments are part of the international Network for the Detection of Mesospheric Change (NDMC). The data are analyzed in detail by Mackovjak et al. (2025) submitted Earth and Space Science.

The calculation of GWPED is based on the derivation of the temperature variation caused by gravity waves. The retrieval is laid out in detail by Wüst et al. (2016): Derivation of gravity wave potential energy density from NDMC measurements. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (JASTP) 138-139 (2016) 32–46, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2015.12.003.

In short, the processing involves: 1) a quality check of the GRIPS data given in one-minute temporal resolution is performed. The GWPED is only calculated, if data of sufficient length (at least 240 min) and precision (maximum uncertainty of 4.5 K of individual one-minute values) are available; 2) the Brunt-Väisälä frequency required for the calculation is taken in form of a climatological value according to Wüst et al. (2017), https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4895-2017 and Wüst et al. (2020), https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6067-2020; 3) the data are detrended (to exclude longer period waves, e.g. tides, from the analysis) before fitting harmonic waves to the data; 4) based on the calculated amplitudes the GWPED is calculated according to Wüst et al. (2016). Details concerning the derivation of rotational temperatures at one-minute resolution from the airglow spectra are presented in Schmidt et al. (2013): A ground-based spectrometer equipped with an InGaAs array for routine observations of OH(3-1) rotational temperatures in the mesopause region. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics (JASTP) 102 (2013) 125–139. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jastp.2013.05.001.

 

The following table describes the content of the ASCII-file containing the data (separator between two columns is “,” aka a comma).

 






Column



parameter



unit



Format



description





1



date



ISO8601



A



20-character string





2



GWPED estimate



J/kg



F6.2



refers to site in column #3





3



NDMC site code



n.a.



A



3-character string





4



Longitude



Degree



F5.2



refers to site in column #3





5



Latitude



Degree



F5.2



refers to site in column #3