Identification

Title

Solar cycle dependence of middle atmosphere temperatures

Abstract

Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) temperature data during 2002 through 2013 and covering 20–110 km altitude between ±83° latitude are analyzed to determine the dependence of middle atmosphere temperatures on solar flux, as parameterized by a linear relation with 81 day mean values of the 10.7 cm solar radio flux, F₁₀.₇a. The basic data analyzed are 60 day mean values, which represent zonal and local-time means. Analysis is conducted on both fixed altitude and fixed pressure levels. Below 70 km, the sensitivity of SABER annual mean temperatures is of order 1–2 K per 100 solar flux units (100 sfu) when data are analyzed on fixed altitude levels. At 85 km this increases to 3–6 K/100 sfu between ±60°latitude. At 95 km, values of order 4–6 K/100 sfu are found over the latitude range ±50° with values of order 10–14 K/100 sfu at higher latitudes in both hemispheres; these values increase to 5–11 K/100 sfu and 13–29 K/100 sfu, respectively, at 105 km. Comparisons are made with similarly analyzed temperatures from the National Center for Atmospheric Research Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). At 85 km, the WACCM response is similar to observed but above that level WACCM predicts a lower response by a factor of about 2 at 95 km. On the other hand, below 70 km, the sensitivity of WACCM annual mean temperatures is stronger than SABER (∼3 K/100 sfu). When analysis is instead performed on pressure levels, the response in the lower thermosphere increases, especially at 105 km where changes of 29 to 51 K/100 sfu are seen in SABER annual mean temperatures.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7w37x93

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-08-27T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact