MESOSPHERIC OH AIRGLOW TEMPERATURE-FLUCTUATIONS - A SPECTRAL-ANALYSIS

A field campaign under Project MAPSTAR was conducted in Colorado durin g May-July 1988. As part of this effort ground based measurements of O H airglow rotational temperatures at 85 km were made by means of an in frared Fourier spectrometer (IRFWI of USU). These measurements employe d a least squares spectral fitting technique involving the 3-1 Meinel band. These data and their estimated PSD's will be presented. The latt er will be interpreted by means of the relations between gravity wave temperature fluctuations and vertical displacement fluctuations given by Makhlouf et al (1990). The results will be compared with the predic tions of the gravity wave model of Dewan (1990, 1991) and shown to be in reasonable agreement thus lending further support to the local wave -cascade hypothesis.