Identification

Title

Global structure and long-term variations of zonal mean temperature observed by TIMED/SABER

Abstract

In this paper, we present a method of extracting zonal mean temperature and tides from TIMED/SABER satellite and discuss the features of the zonal mean temperature. The global temperature structure is presented, and the mean variations at each latitude and altitude are decomposed into semiannual (SAO), annual (AO), and quasi-biennial (QBO) components. The SAO is strong in the tropical upper stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. The SAO phase (measured by the time of the maximum) is at the equinox at 85 km and at solstice at 75 km. The amplitude is large compared to the annual mean temperature structure, which leads to a mesospheric inversion layer (MIL) in the zonal mean temperature around the equator at equinox. The AO is most evident at middle latitudes and displays a clear hemispheric asymmetry at solstices. The QBO in temperature is strongest in the tropical lower stratosphere; its period there is 26.6 months. There are also weak QBO signals near the mesopause and throughout the middle atmosphere at midlatitudes. The analysis of longer-term variations of the zonal mean temperature, probably affected by the solar cycle but also containing any other trends, indicates that in most regions, the zonal mean temperature decreases during the period of 5 years and is positively correlated with the solar radiation. These results use version 1.06 of the SABER temperature data, which have some known biases in the vicinity of the mesopause.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7r211nz

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

2007-12-25T00:00:00Z

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

Copyright 2007 American Geophysical Union.

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

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 date

2025-07-17T16:00:22.155256

Metadata language

eng; USA