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Connection between the midlatitude mesosphere and sudden stratospheric warmings as measured by Rayleigh‐scatter lidar
Author(s) -
Sox Leda,
Wickwar Vincent B.,
Fish Chad S.,
Herron Joshua P.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2015jd024374
Subject(s) - stratosphere , lidar , middle latitudes , mesosphere , atmospheric sciences , sudden stratospheric warming , altitude (triangle) , rayleigh scattering , latitude , climatology , environmental science , geology , polar vortex , physics , geodesy , remote sensing , geometry , mathematics , optics
Abstract While the mesospheric temperature anomalies associated with Sudden Stratospheric Warmings (SSWs) have been observed extensively in the polar regions, observations of these anomalies at midlatitudes are much more sparse. The Rayleigh‐scatter lidar system, which operated at the Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences on the campus of Utah State University (41.7°N, 111.8°W), collected a very dense set of observations, from 1993 to 2004, over a 45–90 km altitude range. This paper focuses on Rayleigh lidar temperatures derived during the six major SSW events that occurred during the 11 year period when the lidar was operating and aims to characterize the local response to these midlatitude SSW events. In order to determine the characteristics of these mesospheric temperature anomalies, comparisons were made between the temperatures from individual nights during a SSW event and a climatological temperature profile. An overall disturbance pattern was observed in the mesospheric temperatures associated with SSW events, including coolings in the upper mesosphere and warmings in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere, both comparable to those seen at polar latitudes.