Date of Award

Fall 11-2021

Access Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Physics

Department

Physical Sciences

Committee Chair

Jonathan B. Snively

First Committee Member

Alan Z. Liu

Second Committee Member

Matthew D. Zettergren

Third Committee Member

Pierre-Dominique Pautet

Abstract

Acoustic waves, gravity waves, and larger-scale tidal and planetary waves are significant drivers of the atmosphere’s dynamics and of the local and global circulation that have direct and indirect impacts on our weather and climate. Their measurements and characterization are fundamental challenges in Aeronomy that require a wide range of instrumentation with distinct operational principles. Most measurements share the common features of integrating optical emissions or effects on radio waves through deep layers of the atmosphere. The geometry of these integrations create line-of-sight effects that must be understood, described, and accounted for to properly present the measured data in traditional georeferenced frames or in thin-layer representations. These effects include intensity enhancements/cancellations, filtering of scales, and apparent phase shifts relative to the underlying wave dynamics. We have designed a simulation framework that uses 2D and 3D input model data to perform these line-of-sight integrations based on ray tracing and geodesic transformations. The primary objective is to characterize these effects, to define quantifiable impacts on measurable parameters, and to create a basis for synthetic data for processes to be revealed in current and future measurements.

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