SIMULTANEOUS LIDAR OBSERVATIONS OF VERTICAL WIND, TEMPERATURE, AND DENSITY PROFILES IN THE UPPER MESOPHERE - EVIDENCE FOR NONSEPARABILITY OF ATMOSPHERIC PERTURBATION SPECTRA

A Na Wind/Temperature lidar was used to measure Na density, atmospheri c temperature, and vertical wind profiles between 84 and 100 km altitu de on September 27, 1993 at Haleakala, Maul during the 1993 Airborne L idar and Observations of the Hawaiian Airglow (ALOHA-93) Campaign. The data were used to compute the vertical wave number (m) and observed t emporal frequency spectra (omega) of relative atmospheric density, rel ative temperature, and vertical winds perturbations. The shapes and ma gnitudes of the relative density and temperature spectra are consisten t with the large body of previously published observations. The spectr al indices are near -3 for the m-spectra and near -2 for the omega-spe ctra. The spectral index of the vertical wind omega-spectrum is near 0 . The spectral index of the vertical wind m-spectrum is very small (-1 .4). This result is inconsistent with the concept of separable (m, ome ga) joint spectra for wave induced perturbations. The measured rms per turbations during the observation period are, respectively, 4.9%, 4.5% , and 3.9 m/s for relative atmospheric density, relative temperature, and vertical winds.