In the past, additional sodium peaks occurring above the main sodium layer of the upper mesosphere were discussed. Here, formation of an additional sodium peak below the main sodium layer peak is discussed in detail. The event coincided with passage of multiple mesospheric bores, which are step-like disturbances occurring in the upper mesosphere. Hence, this work highlights the importance of such mesospheric bores in causing significant changes to the minor species concentration in a short time.

We have developed a user-friendly program that can efficiently deal with extensive amounts of airglow data. We have applied this new program to airglow data obtained at different latitudes in polar, midlatitude, and equatorial regions and demonstrated distinct differences in atmospheric gravity wave (AGW) propagation characteristics and energy distribution. We aim to encourage other AGW research groups to use the program and do comparisons to reveal AGW characteristics on a more global scale.

Old diaries kept in Japan tell us a surprising fact. The 27-day solar rotational period in thunder and lightning activities had been persistent for the past 300 years. The intensity is found to be more prominent as solar activity increases. The physical mechanism of the Sun–Climate connection is yet uncertain, an important link surely exists between the solar activity and terrestrial climate even at a meteorological timescale.

Solar activity and climate show correlations over a wide range of timescales. It is important to understand the behavior of the 27-day solar rotational period in lightning activities because it provides an opportunity to understand how the sun influences weather and climate. We analyzed lightning data extracted from diaries written in Kyoto, Japan from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century. Lightning shows the signal of the 27-day period; however, it disappeared during the Maunder Minimum.

In this study, we statistically analyzed severe magnetic fluctuations in the nightside near-Earth plasma sheet. For the first time, we showed the occurrence rates of these fluctuations. The superposed epoch analysis also indicated that the flow speed increases before the severe magnetic fluctuations. We also discussed how both the inside-out and outside-in substorm models can be used to explain these observed results.

Detailed analyses of the 27-day solar rotational period in cloud and lightning activities may help in untangling the process of solar influence on weather and climate. We analyzed the lightning data in Japan for AD 1989–2015 and found that the 27-day solar rotational period is seen in wide-area lightning activity. The signal was stronger at the maxima of solar decadal cycles. It was also found that the signal of the 27-day period migrates from the southwest to the northeast in Japan.

Stereoscopy of aurora was performed at the record fast sampling rate of 100 fps to measure the emission altitude of rapidly varying fine-scale structures. The new method unveiled that very different types of aurora appear in the same direction at different altitudes.

Using a new air-shower simulation driven by the proton flux data obtained from GOES satellites, we show the possibility of significant enhancement of the effective dose rate of up to 4.5 µSv/hr at a conventional flight altitude of 12 km during the largest solar proton event that did not cause a ground-level enhancement. As a result, a new GOES-driven model is proposed to give an estimate of the contribution from the isotropic component of the radiation dose in the stratosphere.