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'Atmospheric tides' (sometimes known as 'air tides' or 'atmospheric oscillations') are global-scale periodic oscillations of the atmosphere. In many ways they are analogous to ocean tides. Atmospheric tides can be excited by:

★ The regular day/night cycle in the solar heating of the atmosphere

★ The gravitational field pull of the moon

★ Non-linear interactions between tides and planetary waves.

★ Orographic flow

Contents

General Characteristics

Solar Atmospheric Tides

Migrating Solar Tides

Non-Migrating Solar Tides

Lunar Atmospheric Tides

Dissipation

Effects of Atmospheric Tide

See also

Notes and references

General Characteristics

The largest-amplitude atmospheric tides are mostly generated in the troposphere and stratosphere when the atmosphere is periodically heated as water vapour and ozone absorb solar radiation during the day. The tides generated are then able to propagate away from these source regions and ascend into the mesosphere and thermosphere. Atmospheric tides can be measured as regular fluctuations in wind, temperature, density and pressure. Although atmospheric tides share much in common with ocean tides they have two key distinguishing features:
i) Atmospheric tides are primarily excited by the Sun's heating of the atmosphere whereas ocean tides are primarily excited by the Moon's gravitational field. This means that most atmospheric tides have periods of oscillation related to the 24-hour length of the solar day whereas ocean tides have longer periods of oscillation related to the lunar day (time between successive lunar transits) of about 24 hours 51 minutes.
ii) Atmospheric tides propagate in an atmosphere where density varies significantly with height. A consequence of this is that their amplitudes naturally increase exponentially as the tide ascends into progressively more rarefied regions of the atmosphere (for an explantion of this phenomenon, see below). In contrast, the density of the oceans varies only slighthly with depth and so there the tides do not necessarily vary in amplitude with depth.
Note that although solar heating is responsible for the largest-amplitude atmospheric tides, the gravitational fields of the Sun and Moon also raise tides in the atmosphere. As with the oceans, the lunar gravitational atmospheric tides are significantly larger than the solar gravitational atmospheric tides (in fact, the latter may be regarded as being negligible).
At ground level, atmospheric tides can be detected as regular but small oscillations in surface pressure with periods of 24 and 12 hours. However, at greater heights the amplitudes of the tides can become very large. In the mesosphere (heights of ~ 50 - 100 km) atmospheric tides can reach amplitudes of more than 50 m/s and are often the most significant part of the motion of the atmosphere.
The reason for this dramatic growth in amplitude from tiny fluctuations near the ground to oscillations that dominate the motion of the mesosphere lies in the fact that the density of the atmosphere decreases with increasing height. As tides or waves propagate upwards, they move into regions of lower and lower density. If the tide or wave is not dissipating, then its kinetic-energy density must be conseved. Since the density is decreasing, the amplitude of the tide or wave increases correspondingly so that energy is conserved. The amplitude of a wave at a height of z can thus be described by the equation:
$A\; =\; A\_0\; exp(-z/2H)$
where $A\_0$ is the initial amplitude of the wave, $z$ is height and $H$ is the scale height of the atmosphere.
Following this growth with height atmospheric tides have much larger amplitudes in the middle and upper atmosphere than they do at ground level. Atmospheric tides often dominate the motion of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region (~80 - 120 km).

Solar Atmospheric Tides

The largest amplitude atmospheric tides are generated by the periodic heating of the atmosphere by the Sun - the atmosphere is heated during the day and not heated at night. This regular diurnal (daily) cycle in heating generates tides that have periods related to the solar day. It might initially be expected that this diurnal heating would give rise to tides with a period of 24 hours, corresponding to the heating's periodicity. However, observations reveal that large amplitude tides are generated with periods of 24 and 12 hours. Tides have also been observed with periods of 8 and 6 hours, although these latter tides generally have smaller amplitudes. This set of periods occurs because the solar heating of the atmosphere occurs in an approximate square wave profile and so is rich in harmonics. When this pattern is decomposed into separate frequency components using a fourier transform, as well as the mean and daily (24-hr) variation, significant oscillations with periods of 12, 8 and 6 hrs are produced. Tides generated by the gravitational effect of the sun are very much smaller than those generated by solar heating. Solar tides will refer to only thermal solar tides from this point.
Solar energy is absorbed throughout the atmosphere some of the most significant in this context are water vapor at (~0 - 15 km) in the troposphere, ozone at (~30 to 60 km) in the stratosphere and molecular oxygen and molecular nitrogen at (~120 to 170 km) in the thermosphere. Variations in the global distribution and density of these species results in changes in the amplitude of the solar tides. The tides are also affected by the environment through which they travel, so changes in the lower atmosphere can effect tides observed in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region.
Solar tides can be separated into two components: 'migrating' and 'non-migrating'.

Migrating Solar Tides

Migrating tides are sun synchronous - from the point of view of a stationary observer on the ground they propagate westwards with the apparent motion of the sun. As the migrating tides stay fixed relative to the sun a pattern of excitation is formed that is also fixed relative to the sun. Changes in the tide observed from a stationary viewpoint on the earths surface are caused by the rotation of the Earth with respect to this fixed pattern. Seasonal variations of the tides also occur as the Earth tilts relative to the Sun and so relative to the pattern of excitation. ^[1]
The migrating solar tides have been extensively studied both through observations and mechanistic models. ^[2]

Non-Migrating Solar Tides

Non-migrating tides can be thought of as global-scale waves with the same periods as the migrating tides however, non-migrating tides do not follow the apparent motion of the sun. Either they do not propagate horizontally, they propagate eastwards or they propagate westwards at a different speed to the sun. These non-migrating tides may be generated by differences in topography with longitude, land-sea contrast and surface interactions.
The primary source for the 24-hr tide is in the lower atmosphere where surface effects are important. This is reflected in a relatively large non-migrating components seen in longitudinal differences in tidal amplitudes. Largest amplitudes have been observed over South America, Africa and Australia. ^[3] In contrast the 12-hr tide is thought to be primarily generated higher in the atmosphere and so has a relatively small contribution from non-migrating components.

Lunar Atmospheric Tides

Atmospheric tides are also produced through the gravitational effects of the Moon. ''Lunar (gravitational) tides'' are much weaker than ''solar (thermal) tides'' and are generated by the motion of the Earth's oceans (caused by the Moon) and to a lesser extent the effect of the Moon's gravitational attraction on the atmosphere.

Dissipation

Atmospheric tidal dissipation may come from many mechanisms.
Tidal amplitudes maximize in height in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere region, (80 - 100 km). Above this region the decreasing density of the air causes energy transfer by wave motion to become less efficient and waves cannot propagate as efficiently.
Futher damping is caused by wave breaking, a similar phenomena to ocean waves breaking on a beach, the energy dissipates into the background atmosphere.
Turbulence caused by breaking gravity waves at these heights causes a drag on tidal flow and causes further damping of the tides.

Effects of Atmospheric Tide

Understanding atmospheric tides is essential in understanding the atmosphere as a whole. Modeling and observations of atmospheric tides are needed monitor and predict changes in the Earths atmosphere.

See also

★ Tide

★ Earth tide

★ Mesosphere

★ Thermosphere

Notes and references

1. Global Scale Wave Model UCAR
2. http://www.hao.ucar.edu/modeling/gswm/refs.html
3. Hagan, M.E., J.M. Forbes and A. Richmond, 2003: Atmospheric Tides, Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences