Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 7 3 2007 10.5194/acpd-7-7603-2007 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/7603/2007/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/7603/2007/acpd-7-7603-2007.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/7603/2007/acpd-7-7603-2007.pdf 7603 7624 2007-05-31 Evidence of gravity waves into the atmosphere during the March 2006 total solar eclipse C. S. Zerefos zerefos@geol.uoa.gr E. Gerasopoulos I. Tsagouri B. Psiloglou A. Belehaki T. Herekakis A. Bais S. Kazadzis C. Eleftheratos N. Kalivitis N. Mihalopoulos National Observatory of Athens, V. Pavlou & I. Metaxa, P. Penteli, 15236, Athens, Greece Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Physics Department, Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Thessaloniki, Greece Foundation for Biomedical Research, Academy of Athens, Greece University of Crete, Chemistry Department, Environmental and Chemical Processes Laboratory, Crete, Greece This study aims at testing the hypothesis according to which the movement of the moon's shadow sweeping the ozone layer at supersonic speed during a solar eclipse creates gravity waves in the atmosphere. An experiment was conducted to study fluctuations of the ozone layer, the Ionosonde Total Electron Content (ITEC) and the peak electron density height (hmF2) in the ionosphere, as well as at a number of other parameters before, during and after the total solar eclipse. We found the existence of dominant oscillations with periods ranging between 30–40 min in most of the parameters. 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