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Enhanced seasonal variations for chemical rates with inverse temperature dependencies: Application to seasonal abundance of mesospheric sodium
Author(s) -
Swider William
Publication year - 1985
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/gl012i009p00589
Subject(s) - seasonality , mesosphere , atmospheric sciences , sodium , environmental science , altitude (triangle) , abundance (ecology) , climatology , chemistry , physics , ecology , mathematics , geology , biology , stratosphere , geometry , organic chemistry
For a fixed altitude, the known seasonal variations of pressure in the mesosphere are less than a factor of two. However, the components of the pressure, the total concentration and temperature, vary in opposition to each other. Thus, a rate for a process with an inverse temperature dependence can undergo a much larger seasonal variation than does the pressure. In particular, the loss rate associated with the three‐body process , which has a negative temperature dependence, annually varies by a factor of four at 80 and 85 km for 60°N and by less than a factor of two at 30°N. Using a recent sodium model, sodium concentrations for 60°N at 80 and 85 km are shown to change by factors of three and two, respectively. Other possible contributors to the seasonal variation of mesospheric sodium are argued as less important.