Radar wind profiler observations of solar semidiurnal atmospheric tides

Semidiurnal solar tides in the mid‐latitude troposphere are investigated using harmonic analysis of 404 MHz radar profiler wind data obtained from a wide longitude zone in the U.S. The tides are apparent above a 1000‐m‐deep surface layer and increase in amplitude with height, attaining speeds of 0.5–0.7 m/s at 5–7 km. Observed wind characteristics agree well with tidal characteristics obtained with a dynamical model driven by observed global semidiurnal horizontal pressure gradients.