Gravity wave vertical energy flux at 95 km

A three-field photometer (3FP) located at Mt. Torrens near Adelaide, is capable of monitoring different airglow emissions from three spaced fields in the sky. A wheel containing up to six different narrow bandpass interference filters can be rotated, allowing each of the filters to be sequentially placed into each of the three fields. The airglow emission of interest is the 557.7 nm line which has an intensity maximum at 95 km. Each circular field of view is located at the apexes of an equilateral triangle centered on zenith with diameters of 5 km and field separations of 13 km when projected to the 95-km level. The sampling period was 30 seconds and typical data lengths were between 7 and 8 hours. The analysis and results from the interaction of gravity waves on the 557.7 nm emission layer are derived using an atmospheric model similar to that proposed by Hines (1960) where the atmosphere is assumed isothermal and perturbations caused by gravity waves are small and adiabatic, therefore, resulting in linearized equations of motion. In the absence of waves, the atmosphere is also considered stationary. Thirteen nights of quality data from January 1983 to October 1984, covering all seasons, are used in this analysis.