Gravity Wave Forcing : Mountain Waves (McWave)

The Scandinavian mountain ridge is a unique laboratory for studying gravity waves triggered by "deflection" of prevailing winds coming from the North Sea. The extensive ground based instrumentation co-located with the Scandinavian rocket ranges makes this region ideal for studying gravity waves at high latitudes.Two sequences of sounding rockets with two large instrumented payloads each are envisaged to study atmospheric fine structure in situ and combine these results with ground based data on radar reflectivity and aerosol distribution. One sequence will take place in Winter from Esrange, Sweden, when westerlies prevail, the other in Summer with emphasis on the Norwegian range Andoya, when other mechanisms are expected to be active. Both sequences will have hourly background measurements of the development of neutral densities up to the mesopause by balloons and meteorological rockets in the 12 hours between the flights of the instrumented payloads of each of the two sequences.