MAHRSI Observations of Small Scale Variability in OH Density and PMC Brightness: Modeling the Distribution of Water Vapor at PMCs

Details MAHRSI Observations of Small Scale Variability in OH Density and PMC Brightness: Modeling the Distribution of Water Vapor at PMCs MAHRSI Observations of Small Scale Variability in OH Density and PMC Brightness: Modeling the Distribution of Water Vapor at PMCs

May 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agusm..sa32b06s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2001, abstract #SA32B-06

Physics

0310 Airglow And Aurora, 0360 Transmission And Scattering Of Radiation, 3334 Middle Atmosphere Dynamics (0341, 0342)

Scientific paper

From 8-16 August, 1997 the Middle Atmosphere High Resolution Spectrograph Investigation (MAHRSI) flew on the CRISTA-SPAS (Cryogenic Infrared and Telescopes for the Atmosphere - Shuttle Pallet Satellite) which was deployed and retrieved by the space shuttle. MAHRSI measured solar resonance fluorescence of the OH (0,0) band near 309 nm by scanning on the limb between 90-40 km at latitudes up to 71 N. OH radiances are inverted to OH number density profiles, which are then converted to water vapor mixing ratios using a one-dimensional model that assumes OH is in photochemical equilibrium with water vapor. The distribution of water vapor inferred from the MAHRSI OH observations in the Arctic summer mesosphere is highly variable both vertically and horizontally with mixing ratios typically in excess of 10 ppmv at 82 km. The retrieval of OH radiances requires the subtraction of an underlying background, which is normally due to Rayleigh scattered sunlight. However, some MAHRSI scans at high latitudes and near 82 km show additional backscattered light, which we infer to be from polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). With these simultaneous measurements of OH and PMCs, we will explore the relationship between the distribution of water vapor and PMC brightness. This will be done using a two-dimensional PMC growth and decay model that simulates the effects of a gravity wave propagating through the upper mesosphere. Constraints will be placed on the wavelength and amplitude of such a gravity wave as required by the MAHRSI data.

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