Open AccessMesospheric temperature observations at Resolute (75°N) in the context of solar flux and quasi‐biennial variations
Author(s) -
Shepherd Gordon G.,
Cho YoungMin,
Shepherd Marianna G.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2009ja015126
Subject(s) - stratosphere , airglow , atmospheric sciences , equator , quasi biennial oscillation , radiosonde , mesosphere , context (archaeology) , environmental science , flux (metallurgy) , solar cycle , climatology , physics , latitude , geology , solar wind , plasma , chemistry , astronomy , paleontology , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
A spectral airglow temperature imager was operated at Resolute (75°N) in northern Canada from 2001 to 2009, providing mesospheric rotational temperatures from the hydroxyl radical OH Meinel (6,2) band airglow from a nominal altitude of 87 km. The year‐to‐year temperature variability, which included a full maximum to minimum of the solar cycle, was investigated and compared with the temperatures at 22.5 km obtained from radiosonde measurements at the same site. For both data sets, an anticorrelation with the quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO) was found, in the sense that a positive (eastward) zonal wind at the equator corresponded to negative temperature anomalies for both regions, a relationship that had already been recognized for the lower stratosphere. Plots of the monthly mesospheric temperatures versus solar flux, done separately for the two phases of the QBO, showed a high correlation for the westerly phase of the QBO and a low correlation for the easterly phase, as has been recognized for the lower stratosphere. Finally, when the upper mesospheric monthly temperature anomalies were plotted versus those for the lower stratosphere, a high correlation was found for the westerly phase of the QBO and a low correlation for the easterly phase. This is also a new finding for the upper mesosphere and indicates either a coupling between the two regions or simply a common response to the same source: solar flux, the influence of which is modulated by the QBO.