POAM Measurements of Polar Mesospheric Cloud Particle Sizes

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

0320 Cloud Physics And Chemistry, 0340 Middle Atmosphere: Composition And Chemistry, 0360 Transmission And Scattering Of Radiation, 3360 Remote Sensing

Scientific paper

The Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM II and III) satellite instruments were designed to measure ozone and other trace species in the stratosphere using solar occultation. However, the POAM instruments have proved to be sensitive enough to measure Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMC). Because of its orbit nearly all the POAM PMC measurements are in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), where its latitude varies between 63 and 70 degrees south, during the PMC season. POAM measures transmission as function of altitude through the earth's atmospheric limb at 9 wavelengths between 355 nm and 1018 nm. POAM II on the SPOT 3 satellite was operational from October 1993 until November 1996, and POAM III on the SPOT 4 satellite has been operational since April 1998, covering eight PMC seasons in the SH. Because of the better the signal-to-noise characteristics of POAM III compared with POAM II, especially in the UV channel, our analysis of the PMC particle sizes will focus on the POAM III results. The transmission measurements are fit with a simple cloud model which allows us to determine the height of the cloud base and top, and the extinction coefficient. The multi-wavelength extinction measurements have been analyzed to determine the characteristic particle sizes in the PMCs. The modal PMC particle size typically ranges from 20 to 70 nm, with the largest sizes being more typical of those clouds, with the greatest optical thickness. Given our derived values of the particle size and PMC extinction coefficient, we also determine the PMC particle number.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

POAM Measurements of Polar Mesospheric Cloud Particle Sizes does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with POAM Measurements of Polar Mesospheric Cloud Particle Sizes, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and POAM Measurements of Polar Mesospheric Cloud Particle Sizes will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1642744

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.