Modeling the temperature of the polar mesopause region: Part I—Inter-annual and long-term variations generated by the stratospheric QBO |
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| Authors: | Hans G Mayr John G Mengel Frank T Huang |
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| Institution: | 1. Goddard Space Flight Center, Laboratory for Atmospheres, Code 613.3, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA;2. Science Systems and Applications Inc., Lanham, MD, USA;3. University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA;1. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA;2. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, USA;3. University of Rostock, Kuehlungsborn, Germany;4. University of Rostock, Kuehlungsborn, Germany;5. University of Colorado, Boulder, USA;1. National Space Science Centre, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, China;2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Space Environment Exploration, Beijing 100190, China;3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;4. State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C, Beijing 100088, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, PR China;2. CNSA Macau Center for Space Exploration and Science, Macau, PR China |
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| Abstract: | We present results from the Numerical Spectral Model (NSM), which focus on the temperature environment of the mesopause region where polar mesospheric clouds (PMC) form. The PMC occur in summer and are observed varying on time scales from months to years, and the NSM describes the dynamical processes that can generate the temperature variations involved. The NSM simulates the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), which dominates the zonal circulation of the lower stratosphere at equatorial latitudes. The modeled QBO extends into the upper mesosphere, due to gravity wave (GW) filtering, consistent with UARS zonal wind and TIMED temperature measurements. While the QBO zonal winds are confined to equatorial latitudes, the associated temperature variations extend to high latitudes. The meridional circulation redistributes the QBO energy—and the resulting temperature oscillations away from the equator produce inter-annual variations that can exceed 5 K in the polar mesopause region, with considerable differences between the two hemispheres. The NSM shows that the 30-month QBO produces a 5-year or semi-decadal (SD) oscillation, and stratospheric NCEP data provide observational evidence for that. This SD oscillation extends in the temperature to the upper mesosphere, where it could contribute to the long-term variations of the region. |
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