Abstract
Observations of stratospheric warmings and mesospheric coolings by the TIMED SABER instrument
E.O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C., USA
E.O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C., USA
Physical Sciences Division, British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK
We used temperature data from the Sounding of the Atmosphere with Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) on the the NASA TIMED satellite to quantify the connection between temperatures in the stratosphere and in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Specifically, we studied three winter periods where stratospheric temperatures were dynamically disturbed: February 2002, August, 2002, and February 2003. The SABER temperatures show a clear signature of mesospheric coolings in concert with stratospheric warmings. Mesospheric temperatures between 0.7 hPa and 0.01 hPa show a significant anticorrelation with stratospheric temperatures. For pressures <0.01 hPa, this anticorrelation breaks down, in disagreement with recent model results from a thermosphere-ionosphere-mesosphere general circulation model that suggest mesospheric coolings persist up to 110 km. Also, the lack of a clear correlation between stratospheric temperatures and those at 83–90 km suggests that measurements of the OH Meinel band temperatures at those altitudes may not be representative of the entire mesosphere.
Received 10 January 2005; accepted 8 April 2005; published 6 May 2005.
Citation: (2005), Observations of stratospheric warmings and mesospheric coolings by the TIMED SABER instrument, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L09804, doi:10.1029/2005GL022399.
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