From the Polar Mesopause to the Tropical Tropopause: The Cold Boundaries of the Middle Atmosphere

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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0341 Middle Atmosphere--, Onstituent Transport And Chemistry (3334), 3334 Middle Atmosphere Dynamics (0341, 0342), 3374 Tropical Meteorology

Scientific paper

The middle atmosphere, consisting of the stratosphere and the mesosphere, is bounded at its base by the tropopause, with temperatures that can reach below 180 K in the tropics, and at its upper surface by the mesopause, whose temperature is frequently below 140 K during the polar summer months. In both cases these frigid conditions are currently thought to be a result of adiabatic upwelling, which serves to cool the regions to temperatures that are well below radiative equilibrium conditions. Traditionally the tropopause has been considered as a meteorological feature, while the mesopause fits squarely into the realm of aeronomy. With the growing trend toward a holistic view of the atmosphere, the old disciplinary barriers are breaking down, and in particular the upwelling circulations that cool the two 'pauses' can now be seen as having closely similar origins in the interaction of waves with the mean flow of the atmosphere. These similarities will be described qualitatively, and the influence in both cases on the transport of water vapor into and out of the middle atmosphere will be explored. In the case of the polar summer mesopause one result is the formation of ice particles that influence the local ionospheric plasma composition, and can lead to the growth of visible noctilucent clouds, while in the case of the tropical tropopause the widespread subvisible cirrus sheets that have been detected by satellites may be an analogous phenomenon.

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