Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer
Rayleigh and resonance lidar observations were made during the Turbopause experiment at Poker Flat Research Range, Chatanika Alaska (65° N, 147° W) over a 10 h period on the night of 17–18 February 2009. The lidar observations revealed the presence of a strong mesospheric inversion layer (MIL) at 74...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:angeo11601 2023-05-15T15:08:12+02:00 Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer Collins, R. L. Lehmacher, G. A. Larsen, M. F. Mizutani, K. 2018-09-27 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-29-2019-2011 https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/29/2019/2011/ eng eng doi:10.5194/angeo-29-2019-2011 https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/29/2019/2011/ eISSN: 1432-0576 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-29-2019-2011 2020-07-20T16:25:58Z Rayleigh and resonance lidar observations were made during the Turbopause experiment at Poker Flat Research Range, Chatanika Alaska (65° N, 147° W) over a 10 h period on the night of 17–18 February 2009. The lidar observations revealed the presence of a strong mesospheric inversion layer (MIL) at 74 km that formed during the observations and was present for over 6 h. The MIL had a maximum temperature of 251 K, amplitude of 27 ± 7 K, a depth of 3.0 km, and overlying lapse rate of 9.4 ± 0.3 K km −1 . The MIL was located at the lower edge of the mesospheric sodium layer. During this coincidence the lower edge of the sodium layer was lowered by 2 km to 74 km and the bottomside scale height of the sodium increased from 1 km to 15 km. The structure of the MIL and sodium are analyzed in terms of vertical diffusive transport. The analysis yields a lower bound for the eddy diffusion coefficient of 430 m 2 s −1 and the energy dissipation rate of 2.2 mW kg −1 at 76–77 km. This value of the eddy diffusion coefficient, determined from naturally occurring variations in mesospheric temperatures and the sodium layer, is significantly larger than those reported for mean winter values in the Arctic but similar to individual values reported in regions of convective instability by other techniques. Text Arctic Alaska Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Annales Geophysicae 29 11 2019 2029 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Rayleigh and resonance lidar observations were made during the Turbopause experiment at Poker Flat Research Range, Chatanika Alaska (65° N, 147° W) over a 10 h period on the night of 17–18 February 2009. The lidar observations revealed the presence of a strong mesospheric inversion layer (MIL) at 74 km that formed during the observations and was present for over 6 h. The MIL had a maximum temperature of 251 K, amplitude of 27 ± 7 K, a depth of 3.0 km, and overlying lapse rate of 9.4 ± 0.3 K km −1 . The MIL was located at the lower edge of the mesospheric sodium layer. During this coincidence the lower edge of the sodium layer was lowered by 2 km to 74 km and the bottomside scale height of the sodium increased from 1 km to 15 km. The structure of the MIL and sodium are analyzed in terms of vertical diffusive transport. The analysis yields a lower bound for the eddy diffusion coefficient of 430 m 2 s −1 and the energy dissipation rate of 2.2 mW kg −1 at 76–77 km. This value of the eddy diffusion coefficient, determined from naturally occurring variations in mesospheric temperatures and the sodium layer, is significantly larger than those reported for mean winter values in the Arctic but similar to individual values reported in regions of convective instability by other techniques. |
format |
Text |
author |
Collins, R. L. Lehmacher, G. A. Larsen, M. F. Mizutani, K. |
spellingShingle |
Collins, R. L. Lehmacher, G. A. Larsen, M. F. Mizutani, K. Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
author_facet |
Collins, R. L. Lehmacher, G. A. Larsen, M. F. Mizutani, K. |
author_sort |
Collins, R. L. |
title |
Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
title_short |
Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
title_full |
Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
title_fullStr |
Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
title_sort |
estimates of vertical eddy diffusivity in the upper mesosphere in the presence of a mesospheric inversion layer |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-29-2019-2011 https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/29/2019/2011/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Alaska |
op_source |
eISSN: 1432-0576 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/angeo-29-2019-2011 https://angeo.copernicus.org/articles/29/2019/2011/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-29-2019-2011 |
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Annales Geophysicae |
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29 |
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11 |
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2019 |
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2029 |
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1766339604500185088 |