Secondary planetary waves in the middle atmosphere: numerical simulation and analysis of the neutral wind data

A numerical simulation of secondary waves generated by nonlinear interaction has been used to interpret the behaviour of planetary waves observed by a meteor radar in the UK (53°27′N, 1°35′W) during the summer of 1992. A new explanation is proposed for the long-period variability of the (3,0) mode quasi-two-day wave in the mesosphere and lower-thermosphere, involving the (2,0) Rossby-gravity mode and pseudo-two-day secondary waves with the same zonal wavenumbers as those of the primary (2,0) and (3,0) modes. These pseudo-two-day secondary waves arise from the nonlinear interaction of the Rossby-gravity modes with long-period oscillations of the zonally averaged flow in the equatorial stratosphere, which can be generated by the interaction between the 10 and 16 day planetary waves. Other maxima existing in the neutral wind power spectra can be identified with various secondary waves originating from nonlinear interaction between the quasi-two-day and long-period planetary waves.