The variability of SE2 tide extracted from TIMED/SABER observations

Based on the temperature observations of the TIMED/SABER in mesosphere/lower thermosphere region (70-110 km altitudes) and at the low latitude and midlatitude (45°S-45°N) from 2002 to 2012, the variability of the nonmigrating tide SE2 with 1 day resolution is analyzed. It is found that the climatological features (large-scale variability) of the semidiurnal nonmigrating tide with zonal wave number 2 (SE2) tide are similar with the results from the previous research works. The SE2 tide manifests mainly at the low-mid latitudes around ±30°. The northern hemisphere tidal amplitudes below 110 km are larger than the southern hemisphere tide. SE2 peaks below 110 km mainly present between 100 and 110 km altitude. The tidal amplitudes below 110 km occur a north-south asymmetry about the equator in the annual variation: in the southern hemisphere, SE2 occurs with an obvious annual variation with a maximum of tidal amplitudes in December, while in the northern one, the semiannual variations with maximum at the equinoxes. Herein, owing to the high-resolution tidal data, we could research the short-term (day-to-day) variations of SE2. We found that the day-to-day variations manifest mainly at between 100 and 110 km altitudes; it increases gradually with latitudes, and it is stronger at the low-mid latitudes; it is relatively slightly stronger around solstices than equinoxes; and it does not present a remarkably interannual variation. The SE2 day-to-day variations may be composed by the absolute amplitudes' variance and the impact of the wave phases, and the latter ones are more important.