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STATUS:
03.08.2016
Instrument Status:
The AIM spacecraft continues to perform well.
SOFIE:
The SOFIE instrument continues to operate normally. Software modifications to accommodate the changing orbit and updated instrument operations are ongoing. The changes are confined to level 1 and are addressing times when the SOFIE attenuator balance procedure approached exoatmospheric heights, and the new operation sequence (post September 2015) which has longer events and no balance procedure. SOFIE observations of temperature versus altitude have been used to characterize gravity waves (GW), as described in two publications [Liu et al, 2014 and Thurairajah et al., 2014]. The technique described by Thurairajah et al. was used to derive vertical profiles of GW amplitude and potential energy (PE) from SOFIE results for May 2007 through December 2014. These results are now available to the public on the SOFIE webpage (sofie.gats-inc.com). The figures below show examples of the SOFIE GW results for the Northern Hemisphere, as time-height cross-sections of GW amplitude and PE. The results indicate some typical GW characteristics, for example increasing amplitudes and PE towards higher altitudes, and greater amplitudes and PE during winter months.
click to enlarge
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