edu.ucar.opensky::articles:24313 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-25T06:33:35.968682 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7vm4gnx Investigation of the variability of night-time equatorial thermospheric winds over Nigeria, West Africa 2021-03-01T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7vm4gnx https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JA028528 Rabiu, A. B. author Okoh, D. I. author Wu, Qian author Bolaji, O. S. author Abdulrahim, R. B. author Dare-Idowu, O. E. author Obafaye, A. A. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher This study examined the variability of the night-time equatorial thermospheric meridional and zonal wind speeds using an optical Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) located in Abuja, Nigeria (Geographic: 8.99 degrees N, 7.39 degrees E; Geomagnetic latitude: -1.60). The study period covered 9 months with useable data of 139 nights between March 2016 and January 2018. The hourly zonal wind speed is between -124 and 163 ms(-1) and that of the meridional wind ranged between -70 and 95 ms(-1). Comparison of FPI ground-based measurements with estimates from the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM-14) accurately reproduced the post-midnight meridional component, but for some departure of similar to 50 ms(-1) during pre-midnight. A very good agreement is observed between the predicted and measured zonal winds speed in the month of January 2018. However, the HWM-14 more often underestimated the zonal wind speeds in the months of 2016. Hence, this necessitates a call for improvement of the HWM-14 by using newly observed data in order to better characterize the West African sector. The varying zonal winds showed modal periods of 25.9 and 133.5 days, which are quasi 27 days and quasiterannual periodic variations, respectively. On the meridional wind, oscillatory periods of 133.5 and 23.1 days are seen in year 2016 and 2017, respectively. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2021 American Geophysical Union. None eng geoscientificInformation