Neutral composition gravity waves in the thermosphere observed by ESRO 4

Neutral composition waves with a wave length of about 5000 km and a wave period of about 2.5 hours were observed by ESRO 4 in the altitude region of 250 km. The amplitudes are of the order of 25 percent for Ar, 15 percent for N2, and roughly 10 percent for He and O at 25 percent geographic latitude. The wave amplitudes are seen to decrease towards lower latitudes suggesting that the composition waves are launched by auroral sources. Simultaneous ground based ionosonde measurements of the F2 layer critical frequency at mid and low latitudes show a wave period consistent with the satellite observations. The theoretical investigation with a multi-component model shows that diffusion plays a major role in explaining these wave phenomena. The phase and amplitude relation between atmospheric constituents are sensitive to the altitude region in which energy is deposited thus suggesting that Joule heating or soft particle precipitation are the predominant energy sources.