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Middle atmosphere cooling trend in historical rocketsonde data
Author(s) -
Dunkerton Timothy J.,
Delisi Donald P.,
Baldwin Mark P.
Publication year - 1998
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 - 10.1029/98gl02385
Subject(s) - stratosphere , middle latitudes , mesosphere , northern hemisphere , atmospheric sciences , climatology , atmosphere (unit) , tropics , southern hemisphere , environmental science , geology , meteorology , geography , fishery , biology
Data from the historical rocketsonde network demonstrate that significant cooling of the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere (∼30–60 km) occurred in northern midlatitudes of the western hemisphere and in the tropics during 1962–1991. The downward trend of temperature averaged over this layer was about −1.7 K/decade and temperatures were apparently modulated by the solar cycle with amplitude ∼1.1 K. The trend was a function of height and somewhat larger in the lower mesosphere relative to the middle and upper stratosphere.