Internal gravity waves in atmospheres with realistic dissipation and temperature part III. Daily variations in the thermosphere

Abstract

Using the procedures developed in Parts I and II we examine the daily variation of the thermosphere. The daily variation is found to consist in a strong semidiurnal oscillation (amplitude of temperature oscillation (100 °K-200 °K) excited primarily by ozone heating in the mesosphere, and a diurnal oscillation of similar magnitude excited primarily by EUV heating within the thermosphere. The prediction of a strong semidiurnal oscillation causes our results to differ in form and magnitude from present observationally based models. The nature of the inadequacies in our calculations and in data analyses is discussed in detail.