Migrating and non-migrating tides observed in the stratosphere from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC temperature retrievals

Abstract

Abstract. Formosa Satellite-3 and Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC) temperature data during October 2009–December 2010 are analysed for tides in the middle atmosphere from ∼10 to 50 km. COSMIC is a set of six micro-satellites in near-Sun-synchronous orbits with 30∘ orbital separations that provides good phase space sampling of tides. Short-term tidal variability is deduced by considering ±10 d data together. The migrating diurnal (DW1) tide is found to peak over the Equator at 30 km. It maximises and slightly shifts poleward during winters. Over middle and high latitudes, DW1 and the non-migrating diurnal tides with wavenumber 0 (DS0) and wavenumber 2 (DW2) are intermittent in nature. Numerical experiments in the current study show that these could be a result of aliasing as they are found to occur at times of a steep rise or fall in the mean temperature, particularly during the sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) of 2010. Further, the stationary planetary wave component of wavenumber 1 (SPW1) is found to be of very large amplitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, reaching 18 K at 30 km over 65∘ N. By using data from COSMIC over shorter durations, it is shown that aliasing between stationary planetary wave and non-migrating tides is reduced and thus results in the large amplitudes of the former. This study clearly indicates that non-linear interactions are not a very important source for the generation of non-migrating tides in the middle- and high-latitude winter stratosphere. There is also a modulation of SPW1 by a ∼60 d oscillation in the high latitudes, which was not seen earlier.