Short‐ and long‐timescale thermospheric variability as observed from OI 630.0 nm dayglow emissions from low latitudes

We carried out high‐cadence (5 min) and high‐spatial resolution (2° magnetic latitude) observations of daytime OI 630.0 nm airglow emission brightness from a low‐latitude station to understand the behavior of neutral dynamics in the daytime. The results indicate that the wave periodicities of 12–20 min, and 2 h exist over a wide spatial range of around 8°–12° magnetic latitudes. The 20–80 min periodicities in the dayglow seem to appear more often in the measurements closer to the magnetic equator and not at latitudes farther away. Further, periodicities in that range are found to be frequent in the variations of the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) strength as well. We show that wave periodicities due to the neutral dynamics, at least until around 8° magnetic latitude, are influenced by those that affect the EEJ strength variation as well. Furthermore, the average daily OI 630.0 nm emission brightness over 3 months varied in consonance with that of the sunspot numbers indicating a strong solar influence on the magnitudes of dayglow emissions.