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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Turbulent energy dissipation rates observed by Doppler MST Radar and by rocket-borne instruments during the MIDAS/MaCWAVE campaign 2002
    (Göttingen : Copernicus GmbH, 2005) Engler, N.; Latteck, R.; Strelnikov, B.; Singer, W.; Rapp, M.
    During the MIDAS/MaCWAVE campaign in summer 2002 we have observed turbulence using Doppler beam steering measurements obtained from the ALWIN VHF radar at Andøya/Northern Norway. This radar was operated in the Doppler beam steering mode for turbulence investigations during the campaign, as well as in spaced antenna mode, for continuously measuring the background wind field. The real-time data analysis of the Doppler radar backscattering provided the launch conditions for the sounding rockets. The spectral width data observed during the occurrence of PMSE were corrected for beam and shear broadening caused by the background wind field to obtain the turbulent part of the spectral width. The turbulent energy dissipation rates determined from the turbulent spectral width vary between 5 and 100 m Wkg-1 in the altitude range of 80-92 km and increase with altitude. These estimations agree well with the in-situ measurements using the CONE sensor which was launched on 3 sounding rockets during the campaign.
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    Polar stratospheric cloud observations by MIPAS on ENVISAT: Detection method, validation and analysis of the northern hemisphere winter 2002/2003
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2005) Spang, R.; Remedios, J.J.; Kramer, L.J.; Poole, L.R.; Fromm, M.D.; Müller, M.; Baumgarten, G.; Konopka, P.
    The Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on ENVISAT has made extensive measurements of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) in the northern hemisphere winter 2002/2003. A PSC detection method based on a ratio of radiances (the cloud index) has been implemented for MIPAS and is validated in this study with respect to ground-based lidar and space borne occultation measurements. A very good correspondence in PSC sighting and cloud altitude between MIPAS detections and those of other instruments is found for cloud index values of less than four. Comparisons with data from the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III are used to further show that the sensitivity of the MIPAS detection method for this threshold value of cloud index is approximately equivalent to an extinction limit of 10-3km-1 at 1022nm, a wavelength used by solar occultation experiments. The MIPAS cloud index data are subsequently used to examine, for the first time with any technique, the evolution of PSCs throughout the Arctic polar vortex up to a latitude close to 90° north on a near-daily basis. We find that the winter of 2002/2003 is characterised by three phases of very different PSC activity. First, an unusual, extremely cold phase in the first three weeks of December resulted in high PSC occurrence rates. This was followed by a second phase of only moderate PSC activity from 5-13 January, separated from the first phase by a minor warming event. Finally there was a third phase from February to the end of March where only sporadic and mostly weak PSC events took place. The composition of PSCs during the winter period has also been examined, exploiting in particular an infra-red spectral signature which is probably characteristic of NAT. The MIPAS observations show the presence of these particles on a number of occasions in December but very rarely in January. The PSC type differentiation from MIPAS indicates that future comparisons of PSC observations with microphysical and denitrification models might be revealing about aspects of solid particle existence and location.
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    Seasonal variations in the horizontal wind structure from 0-100 km above Rothera station, Antarctica (67° S, 68° W)
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2005) Hibbins, R.E.; Shanklin, J.D.; Espy, P.J.; Jarvis, M.J.; Riggin, D.M.; Fritts, D.C.; Lübken, F.-J.
    A medium frequency spaced-antenna radar has been operating at Rothera station, Antarctica (67° S, 68° W) for two periods, between 1997-1998 and since 2002, measuring winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. In this paper monthly mean winds are derived and presented along with three years of radiosonde balloon data for comparison with the HWM-93 model atmosphere and other high latitude southern hemisphere sites. The observed meridional winds are slightly more northwards than those predicted by the model above 80 km in the winter months and below 80 km in summer. In addition, the altitude of the summer time zero crossing of the zonal winds above the westward jet is overestimated by the model by up to 8 km. These data are then merged with the wind climatology obtained from falling sphere measurements made during the PORTA campaign at Rothera in early 1998 and the HWM-93 model atmosphere to generate a complete zonal wind climatology between 0 and 100 km as a benchmark for future studies at Rothera. A westwards (eastwards) maximum of 44 ms-1 at 67 km altitude occurs in mid December (62 ms-1 at 37 km in mid July). The 0 ms-1 wind contour reaches a maximum altitude of 90 km in mid November and a minimum altitude of 18 km in January extending into mid March at 75 km and early October at 76 km.
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    Investigation of inertia-gravity waves in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere over Northern Germany observed with collocated VHF/UHF radars
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2005) Serafimovich, A.; Hoffmann, P.; Peters, D.; Lehmann, V.
    A case study to investigate the properties of inertia-gravity waves in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere has been carried out over Northern Germany during the occurrence of an upper tropospheric jet in connection with a poleward Rossby wave breaking event from 17-19 December 1999. The investigations are based on the evaluation of continuous radar measurements with the OSWIN VHF radar at Kühlungsborn (54.1 N, 11.8 E) and the 482 MHz UHF wind profiler at Lindenberg (52.2 N, 14.1 E). Both radars are separated by about 265 km. Based on wavelet transformations of both data sets, the dominant vertical wavelengths of about 2-4 km for fixed times as well as the dominant observed periods of about 11 h and weaker oscillations with periods of 6 h for the altitude range between 5 and 8 km are comparable. Gravity wave parameters have been estimated at both locations separately and by a complex cross-spectral analysis of the data of both radars. The results show the appearance of dominating inertia-gravity waves with characteristic horizontal wavelengths of 300 km moving in the opposite direction than the mean background wind and a secondary less pronounced wave with a horizontal wavelength in the order of about 200 km moving with the wind. Temporal and spatial differences of the observed waves are discussed.
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    Vortex-averaged Arctic ozone depletion in the winter 2002/2003
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2005) Christensen, T.; Knudsen, B.M.; Streibel, M.; Andersen, S.B.; Benesova, A.; Braathen, G.; Claude, H.; Davies, J.; De Backer, H.; Dier, H.; Dorokhov, V.; Gerding, M.; Gil, M.; Henchoz, B.; Kelder, H.; Kivi, R.; Kyrö, E.; Litynska, Z.; Moore, D.; Peters, G.; Skrivankova, P.; Stübi, R.; Turunen, T.; Vaughan, G.; Viatte, P.; Vik, A.F.; von der Gathen, P.
    A total ozone depletion of 68±7 Dobson units between 380 and 525K from 10 December 2002 to 10 March 2003 is derived from ozone sonde data by the vortex-average method, taking into account both diabatic descent of the air masses and transport of air into the vortex. When the vortex is divided into three equal-area regions, the results are 85±9DU for the collar region (closest to the edge), 52±5DU for the vortex centre and 68±7DU for the middle region in between centre and collar. Our results compare well with other studies: We find good agreement with ozone loss deduced from SAOZ data, with results inferred from POAM III observations and with results from tracer-tracer correlations using HF as the long-lived tracer. We find a higher ozone loss than that deduced by tracer-tracer correlations using CH4. We have made a careful comparison with Match results: The results were recalculated using a common time period, vortex edge definition and height interval. The two methods generally compare very well, except at the 475K level which exhibits an unexplained discrepancy.
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    Physik der kleinskaligen Schichten in der oberen Mososphäre: OPOSSUM : Schlussbericht zum Forschungsvorhaben
    (Hannover : Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), 2005) Lübken, Franz-Josef
    [no abstract available]
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    Long-term lidar observations of polar stratospheric clouds at Esrange in northern Sweden
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2005) Blum, U.; Fricke, K.H.; Müller, K.P.; Siebert, J.; Baumgarten, G.
    Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) play a key role in the depletion of polar ozone. The type of cloud and the length of time for which it exists are crucial for the amount of chlorine activation during the polar night. The Bonn University backscatter lidar at Esrange in northern Sweden (68◦N, 21◦E) is well equipped for long-term observation and classification of these clouds. Nearly continuous measurements through several winters are rare, in particular in wave-active regions like Esrange. Lidar measurements have been performed each winter since 1997—a total of more than 2000 h of observation time has been accumulated, including more than 300 h with PSCs. Analysis of this unique data set leads to a classification scheme with four different scattering characteristics which can be associated with four different cloud types: (1) supercooled ternary solution (STS), (2) nitric acid trihydrate (NAT), (3) ice and (4) mixtures of solid and liquid particles. The analysis of observations over seven winters gives an overview of the frequency of appearance of the individual PSC types. Most of the clouds contain layers of different PSC types. The analysis of these layers shows STS and mixed clouds to occur most frequently, with more than 39% and 37% of all PSC observations, respectively, whereas NAT (15%) and ice clouds (9%) are seen only rarely. The lidar is located close to the Scandinavian mountain ridge, which is a major source of orographically induced gravity waves that can rapidly cool the atmosphere below cloud formation temperatures. Comparing the individual existence temperature of the observed cloud type with the synoptic-scale temperature provided by the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) gives information on the frequency of synoptically and wave-induced PSCs. Further, the analysis of ECMWF temperature and wind data gives an estimate of the transparency of the atmosphere to stationary gravity waves. During more than 80% of all PSC observations in synoptic-scale temperatures which were too warm the atmosphere was transparent for stationary gravity waves. Our measurements show that dynamically induced cooling is crucial for the existence of PSCs above Esrange. In particular ice PSCs are observed only in situations where there are gravity waves.
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    Trägheitsschwerewellen und ihre Verbindung zu brechenden Rossbywellen : Schlussbericht
    (Hannover : Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), 2005) Peters, Dieter H.W.; Gerding, Michael; Hoffmann, Peter; Zülicke, Christoph; Serafimovich, Andrei
    [no abstract available]