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Discovery of a water vapor layer in the Arctic summer mesosphere: Implications for polar mesospheric clouds
Author(s) -
Summers Michael E.,
Conway R. R.,
Englert C. R.,
Siskind D. E.,
Stevens M. H.,
Russell J. M.,
Gordley L. L.,
McHugh M. J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013217
Subject(s) - water vapor , atmospheric sciences , mixing ratio , mesosphere , environmental science , arctic , atmosphere (unit) , polar , occultation , stratosphere , meteorology , geology , oceanography , physics , astronomy
We report the discovery of a layer of enhanced water vapor in the Arctic summer mesosphere that was made utilizing two new techniques for remotely determining water vapor abundances. The first utilizes Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI) OH measurements as a proxy for water vapor. The second is a reanalysis of Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) water vapor data with a technique to simultaneously determine polar mesospheric cloud (PMC) ice particle extinction along with the water vapor abundance. These results reveal a narrow layer of enhanced water vapor centered between 82–84 km altitude and coincident with PMCs, that exhibits water vapor mixing ratios of 10–15 ppmv. This indicates that a higher degree of supersaturation is present in the PMC region, and that PMCs are thus more efficient at sequestering total water (both ice particles and vapor) within the layer, than previously believed.