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The water vapour budget of the stratosphere studied using LIMS and SAMS satellite data
Author(s) -
Jones R. L.,
Pyle J. A.,
Harries J. E.,
Zavody A. M.,
Russell J. M.,
Gille J. C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49711247412
Subject(s) - stratosphere , mixing ratio , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , hydrogen , satellite , water vapor , atmosphere (unit) , infrared , meteorology , chemistry , physics , optics , organic chemistry , astronomy
Monthly zonal mean observations of H 2 O and CH 4 made by the limb infrared monitor of the stratosphere (LIMS) and the stratospheric and mesospheric sounder (SAMS) instruments on Nimbus 7 have been used to investigate whether the H 2 O mixing ratios in the stratosphere are consistent with a source via the oxidation of CH 4 . While both sets of data show considerable seasonally varying structure, total hydrogen (neglecting molecular hydrogen) is relatively featureless with a mean value over the stratosphere of 6.0±0.35 p.p.m.v. (1σ) for the five‐month period studied. The uniformity of the total hydrogen fields points to the validity of the CH 4 oxidation hypothesis. The derived fields of total hydrogen are used to deduce a mean H 2 O mixing ratio for air as it enters the stratosphere of 2.7±0.35 p.p.m.v. (1σ) from which a desiccation temperature may be deduced (for example. −87.2°C at 60 mb).