First observation of mesopause temperatures lower than 100 K

Abstract

Falling sphere measurements were part of a study to investigate the relationship between Noctilucent Clouds and Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes within the context of interactions between the ionized and the neutral atmosphere. During this investigation there was one measurement of a very low mesopause temperature. This temperature is believed to be the lowest value ever observed in the terrestrial environment. The reasons why this cold mesopause measurement is considered to be valid are presented.