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The middle atmosphere circulation is governed by two seasonal basic states in winter and summer, twice a year separated by relatively shortlived reversal periods. These seasonal basic states of circulation and the spring changeover period between them are investigated.
The tidal signature in the middle atmospheric thermal structure is investigated using more than 140 hours of nighttime lidar measurements at Table Mountain (34.4 degrees north) during January 1997 and February 1998.
Here we examine the large‐scale transport characteristics of the new ``Middle Atmosphere" NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies climate model (E2.2). First we evaluate the stratospheric transport circulation in historical atmosphere‐only simulations integrated with interactive trace gas and aerosol chemistry. Compared to lower vertical resolution model versions, E2.2 exhibits improved tropical ascent and older stratospheric mean ages that are more consistent with observed values. In the troposphere, poleward transport to the Arctic and interhemispheric mean ages in E2.2 are comparable to models participating in the Chemistry Climate Modeling Initiative. In addition to validating E2.2 we also assess its ``transport sensitivity" using the coupled atmosphere‐ocean abrupt 4xCO2 and transient 1%CO2 simulations submitted to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 6, along with a 2xCO2 simulation used to evaluate the linearity of the transport circulation's response to increased CO2. We show that decreases (increases) in a stratospheric mean age (idealized surface loss) tracer scale linearly with increased lower stratospheric upwelling, which also increases linearly with warming tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs). Abrupt 2xCO2 and 4xCO2 experiments constrained with (fixed) pre‐industrial SSTs are also used to quantify the relative importance of rapid adjustments versus SST feedbacks to the transport circulation responses in the model. Finally, sensitivity experiments are presented to illustrate the impact of changes in the convective parameterization on stratospheric transport.
The design and construction of a rocket-borne electric field meter for determining the atmosphere's electric field and the conductivity in the middle atmosphere are considered. The operating characteristics of the instrument are discussed and a proposed flight configuration is given. The testing of the prototype is described and suggestions are advanced for further improvements.
Presented and discussed are concerns with applications of neutral atmospheric density models to space vehicle engineering design and operational problems. The area of concern which the atmospheric model developers and the model users considered, involved middle atmosphere (50 to 90 km altitude) and thermospheric (above 90 km) models and their engineering application. Engineering emphasis involved areas such as orbital decay and lifetime prediction along with attitude and control studies for different types of space and reentry vehicles.
The paper presents a simulation of the zonally averaged circulation in the middle atmosphere using a numerical model based on the primitive equations in log pressure coordinates. The circulation is driven radiatively by heating due to solar ultraviolet absorption by ozone and infrared cooling due to carbon dioxide and ozone; Rayleigh friction with a a short time constant above 70 km is included to simulate the strong mechanical dissipation which is hypothesized to exist in the vicinity of the mesopause due to turbulence associated with gravity waves and tides near the mesopause.
Our current confidence in 'observed' climatological winds and temperatures in the middle atmosphere (over altitudes approx. 10-80 km) is assessed by detailed intercomparisons of contemporary and historic data sets. These data sets include global meteorological analyses and assimilations, climatologies derived from research satellite measurements, and historical reference atmosphere circulation statistics. We also include comparisons with historical rocketsonde wind and temperature data, and with more recent lidar temperature measurements. The comparisons focus on a few basic circulation statistics, such as temperature, zonal wind, and eddy flux statistics. Special attention is focused on tropical winds and temperatures, where large differences exist among separate analyses. Assimilated data sets provide the most realistic tropical variability, but substantial differences exist among current schemes.
The middle atmospheric temperature structure has been studied for several decades now. It started with rocketsondes measurements, providing temperature profiles up to 60 km but with relatively poor accuracy [Schmidlin, 1981], and falling spheres allowing reaching 90 km of altitude.
A directory of scientists associated with the Middle Atmosphere Program (MAP) is presented. The MAP steering committee, the standing committees, MAP study groups, and MAP projects are mentioned along with the MAP secretariat and regional consultative group.
Completed and proposed research relating to the Middle Atmosphere Program is discussed. Emphasis is given to the winters in the Northern Hemisphere, the equatorial atmosphere, meteor observation, solar irradiance, atmospheric temperature, geopotential height, atmospheric circulation, and electrodynamics.
Various topics related to investigations of the middle atmosphere are discussed. Numerical weather prediction, performance characteristics of weather profiling radars, determination of gravity wave and turbulence parameters, case studies of gravity-wave propagation, turbulence and diffusion due to gravity waves, the climatology of gravity waves, mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere radar, antenna arrays, and data management techniques are among the topics discussed.
NASA Space Shuttle flights have furnished a basis for the derivation of middle-atmosphere densities with unprecedented vertical resolution; an archival data base is now available that furnishes extensive information for the evaluation of existing model estimates for latitudinal and seasonal effects, as well as the improvement of mean monthly predictions. The High Resolution Accelerometry Package results yield extensive large-amplitude, low-frequency density variations throughout the thermosphere. The Inertial Measurement Unit results show abrupt density shifts at all latitudes, with visible shears being observed that can be correlated to summer activity.
A great variety of physical mechanisms of possibly solar induced variations in the middle atmosphere has been discussed in the literature during the last decades. The views which have been put forward are often controversial in their physical consequences. The reason may be the complexity and non-linearity of the atmospheric response to comparatively weak forcing resulting from solar activity. Therefore this review focuses on aspects which seem to indicate nonlinear processes in the development of solar induced variations. Results from observations and numerical simulations are discussed.
There is some evidence that the thermal structure of the martian middle atmosphere may be altered in a significant way by the general circulation motions. Indeed, while it is well known that the circulation in the meridional plane is responsible for the reversal of the latitudinal thermal gradient at the solstice through the adiabatic heating due to sinking motions above the winter pole, here we want to emphasize that a likely by-product effect could be the formation of warm layers, mainly located in the winter hemisphere, and exhibiting an inversion of the vertical thermal gradient.
The quality of the version 2.2 (v2.2) middle atmosphere water vapor and nitrous oxide measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite is assessed. The impacts of the various sources of systematic error are estimated by a comprehensive set of retrieval simulations. Comparisons with correlative data sets from ground-based, balloon and satellite platforms operating in the UV/visible, infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum are performed. Precision estimates are also validated, and recommendations are given on the data usage. The v2.2 H2O data have been improved over v1.5 by providing higher vertical resolution in the lower stratosphere and better precision above the stratopause. The single-profile precision is ~0.2–0.3 ppmv (4–9%), and the vertical resolution is ~3–4 km in the stratosphere. The precision and vertical resolution become worse with increasing height above the stratopause. Over the pressure range 0.1–0.01 hPa the precision degrades from 0.4 to 1.1 ppmv (6–34%), and the vertical resolution degrades to ~12–16 km. The accuracy is estimated to be 0.2–0.5 ppmv (4–11%) for the pressure range 68–0.01 hPa. The scientifically useful range of the H2O data is from 316 to 0.002 hPa, although only the 82–0.002 hPa pressure range is validated here. Substantial improvement has been achieved in the v2.2 N2O data over v1.5 by reducing a significant low bias in the stratosphere and eliminating unrealistically high biased mixing ratios in the polar regions. The single-profile precision is ~13–25 ppbv (7–38%), the vertical resolution is ~4–6 km and the accuracy is estimated to be 3–70 ppbv (9–25%) for the pressure range 100–4.6 hPa. The scientifically useful range of the N2O data is from 100 to 1 hPa.
Long term measurements from several lidar instruments, located at 44.0 degree N, 40.6 degree N, 34.4 degree N, and 19.5 degree N, were used to develop a new climatology of the middle atmosphere temperature.
Difficulties in making in situ and laboratory measurements of the ion composition of the middle atmosphere are related. An approach is presented which extends theoretical and laboratory results for both negative and positive ions from the D-region down to the stratosphere. In each case, the extension of data from the D-region 'down' to the higher pressure stratosphere is primarily a matter of inquiring into the role of the minor constituents whose absolute concentrations become large enough to allow them to become involved in the ion chemistry.
A study was made of gravity wave momentum fluxes in the middle atmosphere using data collected during June 1984 at Adelaide, Australia (35 deg S). The primary objectives were to identify that portion of the gravity wave spectrum that contributes most of the momentum transport and flux divergence and to examine the temporal variability of wave energies and momentum fluxes. The data were obtained with an HF (2 MHz) radar operated in a Doppler configuration with two coplanar off-vertical beams. This technique provides a direct measure of the vertical flux of horizontal momentum due to an arbitrary spectrum of gravity wave and other motions in the plane of the radar beams.