scholarly journals Variations of Arctic winter ozone from the LIMS Level 3 dataset

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellis Remsberg ◽  
Murali Natarajan ◽  
Ernest Hilsenrath

Abstract. The Nimbus 7 limb infrared monitor of the stratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from October 25, 1978, through May 28, 1979. Its Version 6 (V6) profiles and their Level 3 or zonal Fourier coefficient products have been characterized and archived in 2008 and in 2011, respectively. This paper focuses on the value and use of daily ozone maps from Level 3, based on a gridding of its zonal coefficients. We present maps of V6 ozone on pressure surfaces and compare them with several rocket-borne chemiluminescent ozone measurements that extend into the lower mesosphere. Daily, synoptic maps of V6 ozone and temperature illustrate that they are an important aid in interpreting satellite limb-infrared emission versus local measurements, especially when they occur during dynamically active periods of northern hemisphere winter. We then show a sequence of V6 maps of upper stratospheric ozone, spanning the minor stratospheric warmings of late January and early February 1979. The map sequence of V6 geopotential height reveals how ozone was changing in the vortex and at the centers of adjacent anticyclones. We also report on zonal variations of the tertiary ozone maximum of the upper mesosphere and its associated temperature fields during winter. These several examples provide a guide to researchers for further exploratory analyses of middle atmosphere ozone from LIMS.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
S. Brand ◽  
K. Dethloff ◽  
D. Handorf

Based on 150-year equilibrium simulations using the atmosphere-ocean-sea ice general circulation model (AOGCM) ECHO-GiSP, the southern hemisphere winter circulation is examined focusing on tropo-stratosphere coupling and wave dynamics. The model covers the troposphere and strato-mesosphere up to 80 km height and includes an interactive stratospheric chemistry. Compared to the reference simulation without interactive chemistry, the interactive simulation shows a weaker polar vortex in the middle atmosphere and is shifted towards the negative phase of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) in the troposphere. Differing from the northern hemisphere winter situation, the tropospheric planetary wave activity is weakened. A detailed analysis shows, that the modelled AAO zonal mean signal behaves antisymmetrically between troposphere and strato-mesosphere. This conclusion is supported by reanalysis data and a discussion of planetary wave dynamics in terms of Eliassen-Palm fluxes. Thereby, the tropospheric planetary wave activity appears to be controlled from the middle atmosphere.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellis Remsberg ◽  
V. Lynn Harvey ◽  
Arlin Krueger ◽  
Murali Natarajan

Abstract. The Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from October 25, 1978, through May 28, 1979. Its Version (V6) profiles were processed and archived in 2002. We present several diagnostic examples of the quality of the V6 stratospheric ozone and water vapor data based on their Level 3 zonal Fourier coefficient products. In particular, we show that there are small differences in the ascending (A) minus descending (D) orbital temperature-pressure or T(p) profiles (their A-D values) that affect (A-D) ozone and water vapor. Systematic A-D biases in T(p) can arise from small radiance biases and/or from viewing anomalies along orbits. There can also be (A-D) differences in T(p) due to not resolving and correcting for all of the atmospheric temperature gradient along LIMS tangent view-paths. An error in T(p) affects the retrievals of ozone and water vapor through: (1) the Planck blackbody function in forward calculations of limb radiance that are part of the iterative retrieval algorithm of LIMS, and (2) the registration of the measured LIMS species radiance profiles in pressure-altitude, particularly for the lower stratosphere. We evaluate V6 ozone profile biases in the upper stratosphere with the aid of comparisons against a monthly climatology of UV-ozone soundings from rocketsondes. We also provide results of time series analyses of V6 ozone, water vapor, and potential vorticity for the middle stratosphere to show that their average (A+D) V6 Level 3 products provide a clear picture of the evolution of those tracers during northern hemisphere winter. We recommend that researchers use the average V6 Level 3 data for their science studies of stratospheric ozone and water vapor wherever diurnal variations of them are unexpected. We also point out that the present-day Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment is providing measurements and retrievals of temperature and ozone, which are essentially free of any anomalous diurnal variations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 2185-2199
Author(s):  
Ellis Remsberg ◽  
V. Lynn Harvey ◽  
Arlin Krueger ◽  
Murali Natarajan

Abstract. The Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) instrument operated from 25 October 1978 through 28 May 1979. Its version 6 (V6) profiles were processed and archived in 2002. We present several diagnostic examples of the quality of the V6 stratospheric species distributions based on their level 3 zonal Fourier coefficient products. In particular, we show that there are small differences in the ascending (A) minus descending (D) orbital temperature–pressure or T(p) profiles (their A−D values) that affect (A−D) species values. Systematic A−D biases in T(p) can arise from small radiance biases and/or from viewing anomalies along orbits. There can also be (A−D) differences in T(p) due to not resolving and correcting for all of the atmospheric temperature gradient along LIMS tangent view-paths. An error in T(p) affects species retrievals through (1) the Planck blackbody function in forward calculations of limb radiance that are part of the iterative retrieval algorithm of LIMS, and (2) the registration of the measured LIMS species radiance profiles in pressure altitude, mainly for the lower stratosphere. There are clear A−D differences for ozone, H2O, and HNO3 but not for NO2. Percentage differences are larger in the lower stratosphere for ozone and H2O because those species are optically thick. We evaluate V6 ozone profile biases in the upper stratosphere with the aid of comparisons against a monthly climatology of UV–ozone soundings from rocketsondes. We also provide results of time series analyses of V6 ozone, H2O, and potential vorticity for the middle stratosphere to show that their average (A+D) V6 level 3 products provide a clear picture of the evolution of those tracers during Northern Hemisphere winter. We recommend that researchers use the average V6 level 3 product for their science studies of stratospheric ozone and H2O, while keeping in mind that there are uncorrected nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium effects in daytime ozone in the lower mesosphere and in daytime H2O in the uppermost stratosphere. We also point out that the present-day Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment provides measurements and retrievals of temperature and ozone that are nearly free of anomalous diurnal variations and of effects from gradients at low and middle latitudes.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Ji-Hee Lee ◽  
Geonhwa Jee ◽  
Young-Sil Kwak ◽  
Heejin Hwang ◽  
Annika Seppälä ◽  
...  

Energetic particle precipitation (EPP) is known to be an important source of chemical changes in the polar middle atmosphere in winter. Recent modeling studies further suggest that chemical changes induced by EPP can also cause dynamic changes in the middle atmosphere. In this study, we investigated the atmospheric responses to the precipitation of medium-to-high energy electrons (MEEs) over the period 2005–2013 using the Specific Dynamics Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (SD-WACCM). Our results show that the MEE precipitation significantly increases the amounts of NOx and HOx, resulting in mesospheric and stratospheric ozone losses by up to 60% and 25% respectively during polar winter. The MEE-induced ozone loss generally increases the temperature in the lower mesosphere but decreases the temperature in the upper mesosphere with large year-to-year variability, not only by radiative effects but also by adiabatic effects. The adiabatic effects by meridional circulation changes may be dominant for the mesospheric temperature changes. In particular, the meridional circulation changes occasionally act in opposite ways to vary the temperature in terms of height variations, especially at around the solar minimum period with low geomagnetic activity, which cancels out the temperature changes to make the average small in the polar mesosphere for the 9-year period.


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