Equatorial atmospheric waves observed by HIRDLS

The High Resolution Dynamic Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) observes atmospheric temperature profiles at high horizontal and vertical resolution. We perform wavelet analyses on HIRDLS measurements to derive global properties of atmospheric waves on a daily basis. We also model equatorial waves with a mechanistic primitive equation model forced with high-resolution 3-hourly latent heating rates derived from observations. Latent heating rates were derived from a TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) satellite rainfall product and infrared geostationary satellite measurements. These were used to force waves in the model. The model results aid in the interpretation of the HIRDLS wave observations, and the HIRDLS observations in turn serve to validate the model calculations.