Vortex: A New Rocketexperiment to Studymesoscale Dynamics at the Turbopause

Gerald A. Lehmacher, Jonathan B. Snively, Aroh Barjatya, Miguel F. Larsen, Michael J. Taylor, Franz-Josef Lübken, Jorge L. Chau

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The goal of this new investigation is to better understand gravity waves and their interactions as they propagate from the mesosphere into the lower thermosphere, to characterize the mesoscale wind field, and to identify regions of divergence, vorticity, and stratified turbulence. The Vorticity Experiment (VortEx) will comprise two salvoes of each two sounding rockets scheduled to be launched from Andøya Space Center, Norway in February 2022. The rockets will observe horizontally spaced wind profiles, neutral density and temperature profiles, and plasma densities. Additional information about the background conditions and mesoscale dynamics will be obtained by lidars, meteor radars and a hydroxyl temperature mapper. The observational data will be combined with numerical modeling for a comprehensive look at gravity wave propagation, instability and turbulence generation.

Original languageAmerican English
Journal24th ESA Symposium on European Rocket and Balloon Programmes and Related Research
StatePublished - Jan 1 2019

Keywords

  • gravity wave propagation
  • turbulence
  • space wind
  • lidar

Disciplines

  • Astrophysics and Astronomy
  • Atmospheric Sciences

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