Convection: The likely source of the medium-scale gravity waves observed in the OH airglow layer near Brasilia, Brazil, during the SpreadFEx campaign

We locate the regions containing deep convective plumes and clusters which likely excited the other two GWs. The last 2 GWs were probably also excited from deep convection; however, they must have been ducted ~500 - 700 km if so. Two of the GWs were likely downwards-propagating initially (after which they reflected upwards from the Earth's surface), while one of the GWs was likely upwards-propagating initially from the convective plume/cluster.

We also estimate the amplitudes and vertical scales of these waves at the tropopause, and compare their scales with those from a simple, linear convection model. Finally, we calculate each GW's dissipation altitude, location, and amplitude. We find that the dissipation altitude depends sensitively on the winds at and above the OH layer.

We also find that several of these GWs may have penetrated to high enough altitudes to potentially seed equatorial spread F (ESF) if located somewhat farther from the magnetic equator.