Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

• Main Authors: J. Höffner, C. Fricke-begemann, F. -j. Lübken
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2003
• Subjects: Longyearbyen; Svalbard; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.405.1522; http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/29/53/07/PDF/acp-3-1101-2003.pdf

Abstract. In summer 2001 a potassium lidar was installed near Longyearbyen (78 ◦ N) on the north polar island of Spitsbergen which is part of the archipelago Svalbard. At the same place a series of meteorological rockets (“falling spheres”, FS) were launched which gave temperatures from the lower thermosphere to the stratosphere. The potassium lidar is capable of detecting noctilucent clouds (NLCs) and of measuring temperatures in the lower thermosphere, both under daylight conditions. In this paper we give an overview on the NLC measurements (the first at this latitude) and compare the results with temperatures from meteorological rockets which have been published recently (Lübken and Müllemann, 2003). NLCs were observed from 12 June (the first day of operation) until 12 August when a period of bad weather started. When the lidar was switched on again on