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The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling

The meteoric metal layers act as unique tracers of chemistry and dynamics in the upper atmosphere. Existing lidar studies from a few locations show that K exhibits a semiannual seasonality (winter and summer maxima), quite unlike the annual seasonality (winter maximum and summer minimum) seen with N...

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Autores principales: Dawkins, E. C. M., Plane, J. M. C., Chipperfield, M. P., Feng, W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4949710/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27478716
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023212
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author Dawkins, E. C. M.
Plane, J. M. C.
Chipperfield, M. P.
Feng, W.
author_facet Dawkins, E. C. M.
Plane, J. M. C.
Chipperfield, M. P.
Feng, W.
author_sort Dawkins, E. C. M.
collection PubMed
description The meteoric metal layers act as unique tracers of chemistry and dynamics in the upper atmosphere. Existing lidar studies from a few locations show that K exhibits a semiannual seasonality (winter and summer maxima), quite unlike the annual seasonality (winter maximum and summer minimum) seen with Na and Fe. This work uses spaceborne observations made with the Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System instrument on the Odin satellite to retrieve the near‐global K layer for the first time. The satellite data (2004 to mid‐2013) are used to validate the implementation of a recently proposed potassium chemistry scheme in a whole atmosphere chemistry climate model, which provides a chemical basis for this semiannual seasonal behavior. The satellite and model data show that this semiannual seasonality is near global in extent, with the strongest variation at middle and high latitudes. The column abundance, centroid layer height, and root‐mean‐square width of the K layer are consistent with the limited available lidar record. The K data set is then used to investigate the impact of polar mesospheric clouds on the metal layers at high latitudes during summer. Finally, the occurrence frequency of sporadic K layers and their possible link to sporadic E layers are examined.
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spelling pubmed-49497102016-07-28 The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling Dawkins, E. C. M. Plane, J. M. C. Chipperfield, M. P. Feng, W. J Geophys Res Atmos Research Articles The meteoric metal layers act as unique tracers of chemistry and dynamics in the upper atmosphere. Existing lidar studies from a few locations show that K exhibits a semiannual seasonality (winter and summer maxima), quite unlike the annual seasonality (winter maximum and summer minimum) seen with Na and Fe. This work uses spaceborne observations made with the Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System instrument on the Odin satellite to retrieve the near‐global K layer for the first time. The satellite data (2004 to mid‐2013) are used to validate the implementation of a recently proposed potassium chemistry scheme in a whole atmosphere chemistry climate model, which provides a chemical basis for this semiannual seasonal behavior. The satellite and model data show that this semiannual seasonality is near global in extent, with the strongest variation at middle and high latitudes. The column abundance, centroid layer height, and root‐mean‐square width of the K layer are consistent with the limited available lidar record. The K data set is then used to investigate the impact of polar mesospheric clouds on the metal layers at high latitudes during summer. Finally, the occurrence frequency of sporadic K layers and their possible link to sporadic E layers are examined. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2015-08-16 2015-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC4949710/ /pubmed/27478716 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023212 Text en ©2015. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Dawkins, E. C. M.
Plane, J. M. C.
Chipperfield, M. P.
Feng, W.
The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling
title The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling
title_full The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling
title_fullStr The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling
title_full_unstemmed The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling
title_short The near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: Observations and modeling
title_sort near‐global mesospheric potassium layer: observations and modeling
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4949710/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27478716
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023212
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