Observing mesoscale dynamics with multistatic specular meteor radars: first climatology of momentum flux, horizontal divergence and relative vorticity over northern central Europe

Conte, J. Federico; Chau, Jorge L.; Renkwitz, Toralf; Latteck, Ralph; Tsutsumi, Masaki; Jacobi, Christoph; Gulbrandsen, Njål; Nozawa, Satonori

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-603-2025

Articles | Volume 43, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-603-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-43-603-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 43, issue 2

Regular paper

|

20 Oct 2025

Regular paper |

| 20 Oct 2025

Observing mesoscale dynamics with multistatic specular meteor radars: first climatology of momentum flux, horizontal divergence and relative vorticity over northern central Europe

J. Federico Conte, Jorge L. Chau, Toralf Renkwitz, Ralph Latteck, Masaki Tsutsumi, Christoph Jacobi, Njål Gulbrandsen, and Satonori Nozawa

Data sets

ConteAnGeo2025 J. F. Conte https://doi.org/10.22000/aqqy2uekqy7qppfd

Short summary

Analysis of 10 years of continuous measurements provided MMARIA/SIMONe Norway and MMARIA/SIMONe Germany reveals that the divergent and vortical motions in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere exchange the dominant role depending on the height and the time of the year. At summer mesopause altitudes over middle latitudes, the horizontal divergence and the relative vorticity contribute approximately the same, indicating an energetic balance between mesoscale divergent and vortical motions.