Water Vapor Variations over Mauna Loa and Table Mountain since 2010
Abstract
The Vapor Millimeter-wave Spectrometer (WVMS) instrument deployed at Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) sites at Table Mountain, California (34.4N, 242.3E) and at Mauna Loa, Hawaii (19.5N, 204.4E) have, since 2010, been able to make measurements down to ~26km. With this extended retrieval capability these instruments can now make measurements from ~26-80km. There is an increase from 2010 to 2012 which appears to be caused primarily by dynamical variations, although an increase in water vapor entering the stratosphere probably also plays a role at the lower altitudes. Water vapor mixing ratios at both of these NDACC sites are now higher than they have been for about a decade from the lower stratosphere through the mid-mesosphere. In addition to the WVMS measurements, we will present coincident satellite measurements from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE), and the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). We will also compare the lowest altitude WVMS measurements with frostpoint hygrometer measurements from Boulder, Colorado (40N, 255E), and Hilo, Hawaii (19.7N, 205E). In order to understand the interannual dynamically-driven changes in water vapor, we will investigate interannual variations in mixing using equivalent length and tracer equivalent latitude from 2010-2012. Since dynamical variations affect H2O in the stratosphere primarily by changing the amount of CH4 oxidation that has occurred in a particular region, we will also examine CH4 variations from the GMI model.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.A31A0013N
- Keywords:
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- 0340 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry;
- 0394 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Instruments and techniques