The lunar tides in the Antarctic mesosphere and lower thermosphere

Horizontal winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere over the Antarctic have been measured by a meteor radar at Rothera (67.5°S, 68.0°W) and MF radar at Davis (68.6°S, 78.0°E). Data from Rothera recorded over a 20-month interval in 2005–2006 and data from Davis recorded over the 13-year interval 1994–2006 are examined to investigate the monthly mean behaviour of the lunar semidiurnal tide. Both data sets show a clear signal of the 12.42-h lunar semidiurnal (M₂) tide. The amplitude reaches values as large as 8 m s⁻¹. The vertical wavelengths of the tide vary seasonally from 10 to 65 km. Comparisons of the phase of the tide measured over the two sites reveals that it does not purely consist of a migrating wavenumber 2 mode. This suggests that other, non-migrating, modes are likely to be present.