Seasonal Variation of Mesospheric Ozone Over Three Decades

Mesospheric ozone has been measured over the last three decades from the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME: 1982-1986), High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI: 1992-1996) and the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER: 2002-2004). Previous climatological studies of SME and HRDI ozone have shown that chemistry and dynamics play major roles in defining the seasonal variation. Both annual and semiannual oscillations are present indicating that factors affecting the seasonal variability in ozone include the distribution of water vapor and temperature, changes in solar insolation and tidal forcing. With the addition of an ozone climatology from SABER, this work compares the ozone seasonal variations as viewed by three satellites. In particular, we investigate how differences in satellite sampling can affect the perceived seasonal variations.