Sodium temperature lidar observation at Syowa Station: Summary of three-year observations and unusually high temperature in 2002

• Main Authors: Takuya D. Kawahara, Tsukasa Kitahara, Joji Yamashita, Fumitoshi Kobayashi, Yasunori Saito, Akio Nomura
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University/Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University/Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University/Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University/Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University/Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University 2004
• Subjects: lidar; Syowa Station; Antarctica; mesopause region; temperature; Antarc*; Advances in polar upper atmosphere research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=6388; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00006388/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=6388&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Total 223 nights (2002 hours) of temperature measurement in the mesopause region (80-105 km) was successfully done in wintertime at Syowa Station (69ºS, 39ºE) starting from 2000 through 2002. Monthly mean temperatures were calculated using nightly mean temperatures and year-to-year variation was examined. The monthly temperature of 2002 shows unusually higher (25 K and 20 K) in June and July compared with previous 2 years. Variations of individual nights showed the temperatures at 80 km, 85 km and 110 km are in good agreement among three years through the observation period. The temperature of 2002 began to increase from the middle of May and was back to normal around the end of July in the limited altitude range of 90-105 km.