Inferring heating and cooling rates at the MLT from multistatic meteor radar observations and intercomparison to SE-WACCM-X and JAWARA

Abstract. Continuous measurements of vertical wind in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are rare and technically challenging. However, multistatic meteor radar networks, such as the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster, offer a unique opportunity to use advanced tomographic wind retrieval methods to determine neutral winds, including vertical wind components. The Spherical Volume Velocity Processing technique is a newly developed tomographic algorithm that enables the extraction of Doppler-based vertical winds and the computation of vertical winds from horizontal divergence through vertical integration.
In this study, we present an intercomparison of various vertical wind retrieval methods to evaluate remaining biases and to quantify the magnitude of summer mesospheric vertical upwelling and corresponding downwelling. The retrieved wind data are compared with the Japanese meteorological reanalysis known as JAWARA, as well as a year of free-running SE-WACCM-X model data. Our findings indicate a strong agreement concerning the seasonal patterns of horizontal winds between the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster and both models. The observed vertical wind velocities range from 2 to 15 cm/s. Additionally, measurements from the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster show cooling and heating rates of -40 to 100 K/day during summer and 5 to 20 K/day in the winter months.