Articles | Volume 11, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2027-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2027-2018
Research article
 | 
10 Apr 2018
Research article |  | 10 Apr 2018

Using barometric time series of the IMS infrasound network for a global analysis of thermally induced atmospheric tides

Patrick Hupe, Lars Ceranna, and Christoph Pilger

Abstract. The International Monitoring System (IMS) has been established to monitor compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and comprises four technologies, one of which is infrasound. When fully established, the IMS infrasound network consists of 60 sites uniformly distributed around the globe. Besides its primary purpose of determining explosions in the atmosphere, the recorded data reveal information on other anthropogenic and natural infrasound sources. Furthermore, the almost continuous multi-year recordings of differential and absolute air pressure allow for analysing the atmospheric conditions. In this paper, spectral analysis tools are applied to derive atmospheric dynamics from barometric time series. Based on the solar atmospheric tides, a methodology for performing geographic and temporal variability analyses is presented, which is supposed to serve for upcoming studies related to atmospheric dynamics. The surplus value of using the IMS infrasound network data for such purposes is demonstrated by comparing the findings on the thermal tides with previous studies and the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2), which represents the solar tides well in its surface pressure fields. Absolute air pressure recordings reveal geographical characteristics of atmospheric tides related to the solar day and even to the lunar day. We therefore claim the chosen methodology of using the IMS infrasound network to be applicable for global and temporal studies on specific atmospheric dynamics. Given the accuracy and high temporal resolution of the barometric data from the IMS infrasound network, interactions with gravity waves and planetary waves can be examined in future for refining the knowledge of atmospheric dynamics, e.g. the origin of tidal harmonics up to 9 cycles per day as found in the barometric data sets. Data assimilation in empirical models of solar tides would be a valuable application of the IMS infrasound data.

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Short summary
Explosions in the atmosphere produce infrasound, recorded as very small pressure fluctuations. The relatively new infrasound technology also provides information on atmospheric dynamics. Within the ARISE2 project we have analysed the tidal variability using the data of the global IMS infrasound network. Our findings are compared with reanalysis data. We claim our methodology to be applicable for geographical and temporal studies of dynamic features and propose future applications.