Study of the wind velocity-layered structure in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere by using infrasound probing of the atmosphere

The wind velocity structure in the upper stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere (MLT) is studied with the recently developed method of infrasound probing of the atmosphere. The method is based on the effect of infrasound scattering from highly anisotropic wind velocity and temperature inhomogeneities in the middle and upper atmosphere. The scattered infrasound field propagates in the acoustic shadow zones, where it is detected by microbarometers. The vertical profiles of the wind velocity fluctuations in the upper stratosphere (30–52 km) and MLT (90–140 km) are retrieved from the waveforms and travel times of the infrasound signals generated by explosive sources such as volcanoes and surface explosions. The fine‐scale wind‐layered structure in these layers was poorly observed until present time by other remote sensing methods, including radars and satellites. It is found that the MLT atmospheric layer (90–102 km) can contain extremely high vertical gradients of the wind velocity, up to 10 m/s per 100 m. The effect of a fine‐scale wind velocity structure on the waveforms of infrasound signals is studied. The vertical wave number spectra of the retrieved wind velocity fluctuations are obtained for the upper stratosphere. Despite the difference in the locations of the explosive sources all the obtained spectra show the existence of high vertical wave number spectral tail with a −3 power law decay. The obtained spectral characteristics of the wind fluctuations are necessary for improvement of gravity wave drag parameterizations for numerical weather forecast. Key Points New probing method is described Wind velocity fluctuations are retrieved in the middle atmosphere Vertical wave number spectra are obtained