SIMONe - Three hour waves in mesospheric horizontal wind

Because we have 10-20 times more measurements than before, we can increase the time resolution for horizontal winds. This allows us to peak at higher frequency waves than we normally do. If you high pass filter the 15 minute time resolution measurement, you can see that high frequency waves are present in the data.

Three hour period waves in mesospheric horizontal wind. The vertical structure is very different compared to the 12 hour tidal component. Also, notice that the horizontal and meridional wind components have a 90 degree phase offset.

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To compare, here are the mean wind and horizontal gradients at 15 minute time resolution. The zonal gradients have similar vertical structure as the three hour waves in horizontal velocity. This suggests that these waves are propagating in the East-West direction primarily.