Stratospheric Ozone Changes and Polar Mesospheric Cloud (PMC) Trends Observed in SBUV Data
Abstract
Polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) are observed at 80-85 km altitude and high latitudes (typically > 50°) only during summer months. It has been suggested that long-term variations of PMC occurrence frequency and brightness are indicators of global climate change as represented through changes in mesospheric temperature and water vapor. The Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) series of satellite instruments, although designed to measure stratospheric profile and total column ozone, have made global observations of bright PMCs since November 1978. Previous analysis of SBUV data found that long-term variations in PMC brightness and occurrence frequency were anti-correlated with solar activity, and that a positive secular trend was present at most latitudes. The limited database of mesospheric temperature and water vapor data has precluded further determination of the source of this trend. Motivated by recent studies with the LIMA general circulation model [Berger and Lübken 2011], which relate mesospheric temperature trends to changes in stratospheric ozone, we have investigated the use of stratospheric ozone changes as a proxy for changes in mesospheric heating and temperature. The decrease in ozone from 1979 to the mid-1990s leads to a cooler mesosphere, and is thus consistent with the rise in PMC ice water content observed in the SBUV record during this period. Similarly, stratospheric ozone changes are smaller from the mid-1990s to the present, and PMC ice water content trends are also reduced in recent years. We will discuss these results and their implications for both previous (before 1979) and future PMC behavior.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.A43E0327D
- Keywords:
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- 0340 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry;
- 1699 GLOBAL CHANGE General or miscellaneous