Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 8 4 2008 10.5194/acpd-8-16175-2008 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/16175/2008/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/16175/2008/acpd-8-16175-2008.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/16175/2008/acpd-8-16175-2008.pdf 16175 16218 2008-08-26 Seasonal variation of temperatures between 1 and 105 km altitude at 54° N observed by lidar M. Gerding gerding@iap-kborn.de J. Höffner J. Lautenbach M. Rauthe F.-J. Lübken Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Kühlungsborn, Germany Temperature soundings are performed by lidar at the mid-latitude station of Kühlungsborn (Germany, 54° N, 12° E). The profiles cover the complete range from the lower troposphere (~1 km) to the lower thermosphere (~105 km) by simultaneous and co-located operation of a Rayleigh-Mie-Raman lidar and a potassium resonance lidar. Observations have been done during 266 nights between June 2002 and July 2007, each of 3–15 h length. This large and unique data set provides comprehensive information on the altitudinal and seasonal variation of temperatures from the troposphere to the lower thermosphere. The remaining day-to-day-variability is strongly reduced by harmonic fits at constant altitude levels and a representative data set is achieved. This data set reveals a two-level mesopause structure with an altitude of about 86–87 km (~144 K) in summer and ~102 km (~170 K) during the rest of the year. The average stratopause altitude is ~48 km throughout the whole year, with temperatures varying between 258 and 276 K. From the fit parameters amplitudes and phases of annual, semi-annual, and quarter-annual variations are derived. The amplitude of the annual component is largest with amplitudes of up to 30 K in 85 km, while the quarter-annual variation is smallest and less than 3 K at all altitudes. The lidar data set is compared with ECMWF temperatures below about 70 km altitude and reference data from the NRLMSISE-00 model above. Apart from the temperature soundings the aerosol backscatter ratio is measured between 20 and 35 km. The seasonal variation of these values is presented here for the first time. Alpers, M., Eixmann, R., Fricke-Begemann, C., Gerding, M., and Höffner, J.: Temperature lidar measurements from 1 to 105 km altitude using resonance, Rayleigh, and rotational Raman scattering, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 793–800, 2004. Andrews, D. G., Holton, J. R., and Leovy, C. B.: Middle atmosphere dynamics, vol 40 of International Geophysics Series, Academic Press, Orlando, USA, 1 edn., 1987. Berger, U. and von Zahn, U.: The two-level structure of the mesopause: a model study, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 22 083–22 093, 1999. Burton, S. P. and Thomason, L W.: Molecular density retrieval and temperature climatology for 40–60 km from SAGE II, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4593, doi:10.1029/2003JD003605, 2003. Chen, S., Hu, Z., White, M A., Chen, H., Krueger, D A., and She, C.-Y.: Lidar observations of seasonal variation of diurnal mean temperature in the mesopause region over Fort Collins, Colorado (41° N, 105° W), J. Geophys. Res., 105, 12 371–12 379, 2000. Eska, V., Höffner, J., and von Zahn, U.: Upper atmosphere potassium layer and its seasonal variations at 54° N, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 29 207–29 214, 1998. Faduilhe, D., Keckhut, P., Bencherif, H., Roberta, L., and Baldy, S.: Stratospheric temperature monitoring using a vibrational Raman lidar – Part~1: Aerosols and ozone interferences, J. Environ. Monit., 7, 357–364, 2005. Fricke-Begemann, C. and Höffner, J.: Temperature tides and waves near the mesopause from lidar observations at two latitudes, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D19103, doi:10.1029/2005JD005770, 2005. Friedman, J. S. and Chu, X.: Nocturnal temperature structure in the mesopause region over the Arecibo observatory (18.35° N, 66.75° W): Seasonal variations, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D14107, doi:10.1029/2006JD008220, 2007. Fromm, M., Alfred, J., and Pitts, M.: A unified, long-term, high-latitude stratospheric aerosol and cloud data base using SAM~II, SAGE~II, and POAM~II/III data: Algorithm description, data base definition, and climatology, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 1–17, 2003. Garcia, R. R.: Dynamics, radiation and photochemistry in the mesosphere: Implications for the formation of noctilucent clouds, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 14 605–14 615, 1989. Gerding, M., Höffner, J., Rauthe, M., and Lübken, F.-J.: Observations of noctilucent clouds and temperature structure from 1–105 km by co-located lidars at 54° N, in: Proceedings of the SPIE symposium "Lidar Technologies, Techniques, and Measurements for Atmospheric Remote Sensing II", edited by: Singh, U., SPIE Proceedings, Bellingham, WA, USA, 636705, doi:10.1117/12.689012, 2006. Gerding, M., Höffner, J., and Rauthe, M.: Simultaneous observations of temperatures and ice-particles in the mid-latitude mesopause region, Adv. Space Res., 40, 785–793, 2007a. Gerding, M., Höffner, J., Rauthe, M., Singer, W., Zecha, M., and Lübken, F.-J.: Simultaneous observation of NLC, MSE and temperature at a mid-latitude station (54° N), J. Geophys. Res., 112, D12111, doi:10.1029/2006JD008135, 2007b. Gobiet, A., Foelsche, U., Steiner, A K., Borsche, M., Kirchengast, G., and Wickert, J.: Climatological validation of stratospheric temperatures in ECMWF operational analyses with CHAMP radio occultation data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L12806, doi:10.1029/2005GL022617, 2005. Gross, M. R., McGee, T. J., Ferrare, R. A., Singh, U. N., and Kimvilakani, P.: Temperature measurements made with a combined Rayleigh-Mie and Raman lidar, Appl. Opt., 36, 5987–5995, 1997. Hagan, M. E. and Forbes, J. M.: Migrating and nonmigrating diurnal tides in the middle and upper atmosphere excited by tropospheric latent heat release, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 4754, doi:10.1029/2001JD001236, 2002. Hauchecorne, A., Chanin, M. L., and Keckhut, P.: Climatology and trends of the middle atmospheric temperature (33–87 km) as seen by Rayleigh lidar over the south of France, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 15 297–15 309, 1991. Hirota, I.: Climatology of gravity waves in the middle atmosphere, J. Atmos. Terr. Phys., 46, 767–773, 1984. Höffner, J. and Lübken, F.-J.: Potassium lidar temperatures and densities in the mesopause region at Spitsbergen (78° N), J. Geophys. Res., 112, D20114, doi:10.1029/2007JD008612, 2007. Holton, J. R.: The role of gravity wave induced drag and diffusion in the momentum budget of the mesosphere, J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 791–799, 1982. Huang, F. T., Mayr, H. G., Reber, C. A., Killeen, T., Russell, J., Mlynczak, M., Skinner, W., and Mengel, J.: Diurnal variations of temperature and winds inferred from TIMED and UARS measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 111, A10S04, doi:10.1029/2005JA011426, 2006. Huang, F. T., Mayr, H. G., Reber, C. A., Russell, J. M., Mlynczak, M., and Mengel, J. G.: Stratospheric and mesospheric temperature variations for the quasi-biennial and semiannual (QBO and SAO) oscillations based on measurements from SABER (TIMED) and MLS (UARS), Ann. Geophys., 12, 2131–2149, 2006. Kubicki, A., Keckhut, P., Chanin, M.-L., Hauchecorne, A., Lysenko, E., and Golitsyn, G. S.: Temperature trends in the middle atmosphere as seen by historical Russian rocket launches – Part~1: Volgograd (48.68° N, 44.35° E), J. Atmos. Solar-Terr. Phys., 68, 1075–1086, 2006. Kutepov, A. A., Feofilov, A. G., Marshall, B. T., Gordley, L. L., Pesnell, W. D., Goldberg, R. A., and Russell III, J. M.: SABER temperature observations in the summer polar mesosphere and lower thermosphere: importance of accounting for the CO₂ $\nu_2$ quanta V–V exchange, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L21809, doi:10.1029/2006GL026591, 2006. Leblanc, T., McDermid, I. S., Keckhut, P., Hauchecorne, A., She, C.-Y., and Krueger, D. A.: Temperature climatology of the middle atmosphere from long-term lidar measurements at middle and low latitudes, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 17 191–17 204, 1998. Lindzen, R. S.: Turbulence and stress owing to gravity wave and tidal breakdown, J. Geophys. Res., 86, 9707–9714, 1981. Lübken, F.-J.: Thermal structure of the Arctic summer mesosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 9135–9149, 1999. Lübken, F.-J., Zecha, M., Höffner, J., and Röttger, J.: Temperatures, polar mesosphere summer echoes, and noctilucent clouds over Spitsbergen (78° N), J. Geophys. Res., 109, D11203, doi:10.1029/2003JD004247, 2004. Meriwether, J. W. and Gerrard, A. J.: Mesosphere inversion layers and stratosphere temperature enhancements, Rev. Geophys., 42, RG3003, doi:10.1029/2003RG000133, 2004. Mertens, C J.: Retrieval of mesospheric and lower thermospheric kinetic temperature from measurements of CO₂ 15 μm earth limb emission under non-LTE conditions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 1391–1394, 2001. Mlynczak, M G. and Solomon, S.: A detailed evaluation of the heating efficiency in the middle atmosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 10 517–10 541, 1993. Picone, J M., Hedin, A E., Drob, D P., and Aikin, A C.: NRLMSISE-00 empirical model of the atmosphere: statistical comparison and scientific issues, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 1468, doi:10.1029/2002JA009430, 2002. Rauthe, M., Gerding, M., Höffner, J., and Lübken, F.-J.: Lidar temperature measurements of gravity waves over Kühlungsborn (54° N) from 1 to 105 km: a winter-summer comparison, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D24108, doi:10.1029/2006JD007354, 2006. Rauthe, M., Gerding, M., and Lübken, F.-J.: Seasonal changes in gravity wave activity measured by lidars at mid-latitudes, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 8, 13 741–13 773, 2008. Riese, M., Offermann, D., and Brasseur, G.: Energy released by recombination of atomic oxygen and related species at mesopause heights, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 14 585–14 593, 1994. Schöch, A., Baumgarten, G., and Fiedler, J.: Polar middle atmosphere temperature climatology from Rayleigh lidar measurements at ALOMAR (69° N), Ann. Geophys., 26, 1681––1698, 2008. She, C Y. and von Zahn, U.: Concept of a two-level mesopause: Support through new lidar observations, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 5855–5863, 1998. She, C.-Y., Yu, J. R., and Chen, H.: Observed thermal structure of a midlatitude mesopause, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20, 567–570, 1993. Shepherd, M. G., Reid, B., Zhang, S., Solheim, B. H., and Shepherd, G. G.: Retrieval and validation of mesospheric temperatures from Wind Imaging Interferometer observations, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 24 813–24 829, 2001. Sica, R. J., Izawa, M. R. M., Walker, K. A., Boone, C., Petelina, S. V., Argall, P. S., Bernath, P., Burns, G. B., Catoire, V., Collins, R. L., Daffer, W. H., De Clercq, C., Fan, Z. Y., Firanski, B. J., French, W. J. R., Gerard, P., Gerding, M., Granville, J., Innis, J. L., Keckhut, P., Kerzenmacher, T., Klekociuk, A. R., Kyrö, E., Lambert, J. C., Llewellyn, E. J., Manney, G. L., McDermid, I. S., Mizutani, K., Murayama, Y., Piccolo, C., Raspollini, P., Ridolfi, M., Robert, C., Steinbrecht, W., Strawbridge, K. B., Strong, K., Stübi, R., and Thurairajah, B.: Validation of the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) version 2.2 temperature using ground-based and space-borne measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 35–62, 2008. States, R. J. and Gardner, C. S.: Thermal structure of the mesopause region (80 – 105 km) at 40° N latitude – Part~1: Seasonal variations, J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 66–77, 2000. Vaughan, G. and Wareing, D. P.: Stratospheric aerosol measurements by dual polarisation lidar, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 2441–2447, 2004. von Zahn, U. and Höffner, J.: Mesopause temperature profiling by potassium lidar, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 141–144, 1996. Wickwar, V. B., Beissner, K. C., Wilkerson, T. D., Collins, S. C., Maloney, J. M., Meriwether Jr., J. W., and Gao, X.: Climatology of mesospheric temperature profiles observed with the Consortium Rayleigh-scatter lidar at Logan, Utah, in: Advances in Atmospheric Remote Sensing with Lidar, edited by: Ansmann, A., Neuber, R., Rairoux, P., and Wandinger, U., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 557–560, 1997. Xu, J., Liu, H.-L., Yuan, W., Smith, A K., Roble, R G., Mertens, C J., Russell III, J. M., and Mlynczak, M. G.: Mesopause structure from Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere, Energetics, and Dynamics (TIMED)/Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) observations, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D09102, doi:10.1029/2006JD007711, 2007. Yu, J R. and She, C.-Y.: Climatology of a midlatitude mesopause region observed by a lidar at Fort Collins, Colorado (40.6° N, 105° W), J. Geophys. Res., 100, 7441–7452, 1995. Yuan, T., She, C.-Y., Krueger, D. A., Sassi, F., Garcia, R., Roble, R. G., Liu, H.-L., and Schmidt, H.: Climatology of mesopause region temperature, zonal wind, and meridional wind over Fort Collins, Colorado (41° N, 105° W), and comparison with model simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D03105, doi:10.1029/2007JD008697, 2008.