ANTARCTIC HIGH-LATITUDE MESOSPHERIC DYNAMICS

The ground-based dynamical investigations of the mesosphere made at high austral latitudes from South Pole (90 degrees S) and Scott Base (78 degrees S, 165 degrees E) are reviewed and discussed. The observations at these two locations show that atmospheric oscillations are reduced to zonal wavenumber zero and wavenumber one as the rotational pole is approached. These results have been theoretically explained as a natural extension of the solution of Laplace's Equation in the region near the rotational axis. The unambiguous confirmation of the theoretical results is possible because of the simultaneous measurement capability by the ground-based experiment of the wind field, kinetic temperature and emission rate.