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On the Structure and Variability of the Migrating Diurnal Temperature Tide Observed by SABER


Temperature observations made by the SABER infrared radiometer from January 2002 through December 2021 are used to study the structure and variability of the migrating diurnal temperature tide in the middle atmosphere (~17 to 105 km). In the lower stratosphere, and in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT), tidal structure is dominated by the gravest latitudinally symmetric mode, with a smaller contribution from the first anti-symmetric mode; in the middle and upper stratosphere, non-vertically propagating modes are prominent. Consistent with previous work, low-frequency variability is mainly semiannual, with maxima at the equinoxes. Quasi-biennial variability is also present and evident in low-passed time series. There are robust relationships between the semiannual and quasi-biennial variability of the tide and the semiannual and quasi-biennial tropical zonal wind oscillations, respectively, which persist throughout the 20-year dataset. While the physical mechanisms responsible for these relationships cannot be ascertained from the observations, the present results should be useful for hypothesis testing with numerical models. It is also found that the diurnal tide breaks due to convective instability in the MLT. This is reflected in its mean vertical structure, which grows as expected for a non-dissipating wave below ~85 km, but ceases to grow at higher altitudes. Direct confirmation that dissipation is due to breaking is obtained from the potential temperature field, which shows frequent instances of reversed vertical gradient, particularly at the equinoxes. Breaking of the diurnal tide has a major impact on the zonal-mean temperature and zonal wind structure of the MLT at the equinoxes.