Polar OH-airglow temperature variations in the 87/88 winter

Measurements of OH-airglow spectra from Nord-lysstasjonen in Adventdalen, S valbard (15 degreesE, 78 degreesN) from the period 1980-2000 have been done . The temperature at 87 km height was iterated by fitting synthetic spectra to the measured spectra using the vibrational band (6-2). As a first resul t of the analysis of the time series mesospheric coolings, strong diurnal a nd semidiurnal tides and a planetary wave have been found in the temperatur es in the winter of 1987/1988. At the time of the extraordinarily early str atospheric warming in December a cooling of 30 K was observed. The strength of the diurnal and semidiurnal tides were 30 K and 15 K respectively. The observation of the planetary wave confirms various models that have shown t hat mesospheric planetary waves can be generated indirectly by planetary wa ves in the stratosphere, due to an uneven distribution of the propagation o f orographic planetary waves into the mesosphere. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.