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Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021
We examine the thermal structure of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) using observations from 2002 through 2021 from the SABER instrument on the NASA TIMED satellite. These observations show that the MLT has significantly cooled and contracted between the years 2002 and 2019 (the year of t...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9786278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36582199 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022JD036767 |
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author | Mlynczak, Martin G. Hunt, Linda A. Garcia, Rolando R. Harvey, V. Lynn Marshall, Benjamin T. Yue, Jia Mertens, Christopher J. Russell, James M. |
author_facet | Mlynczak, Martin G. Hunt, Linda A. Garcia, Rolando R. Harvey, V. Lynn Marshall, Benjamin T. Yue, Jia Mertens, Christopher J. Russell, James M. |
author_sort | Mlynczak, Martin G. |
collection | PubMed |
description | We examine the thermal structure of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) using observations from 2002 through 2021 from the SABER instrument on the NASA TIMED satellite. These observations show that the MLT has significantly cooled and contracted between the years 2002 and 2019 (the year of the most recent solar minimum) due to a combination of a decline in the intensity of the 11‐year solar cycle and increasing carbon dioxide (CO(2).) During this time the thickness of atmosphere between the 1 and 10(−4) hPa pressure surfaces (approximately 48 and 105 km) has contracted by 1,333 m, of which 342 m is attributed to increasing CO(2). All other pressure surfaces in the MLT have similarly contracted. We further postulate that the MLT in the two most recent solar minima (2008–2009 and 2019–2020) was very likely the coldest and thinnest since the beginning of the Industrial Age. The sensitivity of the MLT to a doubling of CO(2) is shown to be −7.5 K based on observed trends in temperature and growth rates of CO(2). Colder temperatures observed at 10(−4) hPa in 2019 than in the prior solar minimum in 2009 may be due to a decrease of 5% in solar irradiance in the Schumann‐Runge band spectral region (175–200 nm). |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9786278 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-97862782022-12-27 Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 Mlynczak, Martin G. Hunt, Linda A. Garcia, Rolando R. Harvey, V. Lynn Marshall, Benjamin T. Yue, Jia Mertens, Christopher J. Russell, James M. J Geophys Res Atmos Research Article We examine the thermal structure of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) using observations from 2002 through 2021 from the SABER instrument on the NASA TIMED satellite. These observations show that the MLT has significantly cooled and contracted between the years 2002 and 2019 (the year of the most recent solar minimum) due to a combination of a decline in the intensity of the 11‐year solar cycle and increasing carbon dioxide (CO(2).) During this time the thickness of atmosphere between the 1 and 10(−4) hPa pressure surfaces (approximately 48 and 105 km) has contracted by 1,333 m, of which 342 m is attributed to increasing CO(2). All other pressure surfaces in the MLT have similarly contracted. We further postulate that the MLT in the two most recent solar minima (2008–2009 and 2019–2020) was very likely the coldest and thinnest since the beginning of the Industrial Age. The sensitivity of the MLT to a doubling of CO(2) is shown to be −7.5 K based on observed trends in temperature and growth rates of CO(2). Colder temperatures observed at 10(−4) hPa in 2019 than in the prior solar minimum in 2009 may be due to a decrease of 5% in solar irradiance in the Schumann‐Runge band spectral region (175–200 nm). John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-11-11 2022-11-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9786278/ /pubmed/36582199 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022JD036767 Text en © 2022 The Authors. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Mlynczak, Martin G. Hunt, Linda A. Garcia, Rolando R. Harvey, V. Lynn Marshall, Benjamin T. Yue, Jia Mertens, Christopher J. Russell, James M. Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 |
title | Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 |
title_full | Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 |
title_fullStr | Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 |
title_full_unstemmed | Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 |
title_short | Cooling and Contraction of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere From 2002 to 2021 |
title_sort | cooling and contraction of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere from 2002 to 2021 |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9786278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36582199 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022JD036767 |
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