The response of PMCs to Shuttle Water Vapor Plumes in the Arctic

Details The response of PMCs to Shuttle Water Vapor Plumes in the Arctic The response of PMCs to Shuttle Water Vapor Plumes in the Arctic

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufmsa51a0485d&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #SA51A-0485

Physics

0320 Cloud Physics And Chemistry, 0340 Middle Atmosphere: Composition And Chemistry, 0394 Instruments And Techniques, 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)

Scientific paper

Recent work shows evidence that space shuttle water vapor exhaust can travel to the Arctic and form polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs), visible about a week after launch. A ground-based microwave spectrometer in northern Norway (69° N) has been measuring water vapor in the upper atmosphere since 1995. These data reveal that several space shuttle plumes injected in the summer were detected by the microwave spectrometer one to three days after launch. To explore whether each of these Arctic shuttle plumes leads to PMC formation, we analyze satellite PMC data collected by Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV/2) instruments following each case where an Arctic shuttle plume was observed. Some shuttle plumes lead to significant observed PMC responses, while others lead to weaker or no observed responses. Since the orbits of most SBUV/2 instruments drift in local time and the PMC lighting conditions evolve during the season and with latitude, we examine the observational conditions for each case to quantitatively determine the detection capability of SBUV/2 following each Arctic plume observation. Using the comprehensive coverage of SBUV/2 over the polar cap, we will also quantify the spatial and temporal extent of any burst of PMC activity following a shuttle launch.

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