AIRGLOW RESPONSE TO VERTICALLY STANDING GRAVITY-WAVES

There is currently much interest in fluctuations of airglow emissions caused by atmospheric gravity waves. The fluctuations of brightness te nd to be found in phase (or occasionally in antiphase) with the fluctu ations of measured temperature, whereas current theory tends to antici pate substantial phase differences. We suggest here that the discrepan cy results from failure of the common theoretical assumption that the relevant gravity waves are dominated by a single upgoing component: th at, instead, there is an accompanying downgoing component of comparabl e magnitude, produced by reflection. In the case of total reflection, simple, steady state chemistry and vertical viewing, the phase differe nce is necessarily zero (or 180 degrees).