Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Simultaneous observations of SAO and QBO in winds, temperature and ozone in the tropical middle atmosphere over Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E)

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Owing to the importance of middle atmosphere, recently, a Middle Atmospheric Dynamics (MIDAS) program was carried out during the period 2002–2007 at Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E). The measurements under this program, involving regular radiosonde/rocket flights as well as atmospheric radars, provided long period observations of winds and temperature in the middle atmospheric region from which waves and oscillations as well as their forcing mechanisms particularly in the low-latitude middle atmosphere could be analyzed. However, a detailed analysis of the forcing mechanisms remains incomplete due to the lack of important measurements like ozone which is a significant contributor to atmospheric dynamics. Presently, profiles of ozone are available from TIMED/SABER (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics/Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broad Emission Radiometry) satellite globally from about 15 to 100 km, over multiple years since 2002. In this regard, a comprehensive study has been carried out on ozone and its variability at Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and Semiannual Oscillation (SAO) scales using TIMED/SABER ozone observations during the MIDAS campaign period. Before using the TIMED/SABER ozone measurements, an inter-comparison has been carried out with in situ measurements of ozone obtained under the Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes (SHADOZ) campaign for the year 2007 at few stations. The inter-comparison showed very good agreement between SABER and ozonesonde derived ozone profiles. After validating the SABER observations, ozone profiles are used extensively to study the QBO and SAO along with temperature and winds in the 20–100 km height region. It is known that the SAO in mesosphere and stratosphere are in opposite phases, but the present study for the first time reports the aspect of opposite phases in the mesosphere itself. Thus, the present work attempts to study the long-period oscillations in stratosphere and mesosphere in ozone, temperature and winds simultaneously for the first time over this latitude. These observations provided a unique opportunity to explore long-period oscillations in chemistry, dynamics and thermal structure of the middle atmosphere simultaneously.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Antonita TM, Ramkumar G, Kumar KK, Appu KS, Nambhoodiri KVS (2007) A quantitative study on the role of gravity waves in driving the tropical stratospheric semiannual oscillation. J Geophys Res 112:D12115. doi:10.1029/2006JD008250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antonita TM, Ramkumar G, Kishore Kumar K, Sunil Kumar SV (2008a) Quantification of gravity wave forcing in driving the stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation. Geophys Res Lett 35: L09805. doi:10.1029/2008GL033960

  • Antonita TM, Ramkumar G, Kumar KK, Deepa V (2008b) Meteor wind radar observations of gravity wave momentum fluxes and their forcing towards the mesospheric semiannual oscillation. J Geophys Res 113:D10. doi:10.1029/2007JD009089

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin M, Gray L, Dunkerton T, Hamilton K, Haynes P, Randel W, Holton J, Alexander M, Hirota I, Horinouchi T, Jones D, Kinnersley J, Marquardt C, Sato K, Takahashi M (2001) The Quasi-biennial oscillation. Rev Geophys 39:179–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper M (2004) Validation of SABER temperature measurements using ground-based instruments. In: Proceedings of the geoscience and remote sensing symposium, IGARSS’2004, vol 6. pp 4099–4101. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2004.1370033

  • Deepa V, Ramkumar G, Antonita TM, Kumar KK, Sasi MN (2006) Vertical propagation characteristics and seasonal variability of tidal wind oscillations in the MLT region over Trivandrum (8.5°N, 77°E): first results from SKiYMET meteor radar. Ann Geophys 24:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deepa V, Ramkumar G, Antonita TM, Kumar KK (2008) Meteor wind radar observations of tidal amplitudes over a low-latitude station Trivandrum (8.5°N, 77°E): Interannual variability and the effect of background wind on diurnal tidal amplitudes. J Atmos Sol Terr Phys 70:2005–2013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunkerton TJ (1997) The role of gravity waves in the quasibiennial oscillation. J Geophys Res 102:26053–26076

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finger FG, Nagatani RM, Gelman ME, Long CS, Miller AJ (1995) Consistency between variations of ozone and temperature in the stratosphere. Geophys Res Lett 22:3477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Funk JP, Garnham GL (1962) Australian ozone observations and a suggested 24 month cycle. Tellus 14:378–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia RR, Dunkerton TJ, Lieberman RS, Vincent RA (1997) Climatology of the semiannual oscillation of the tropical middle atmosphere. J Geophys Res 102:26019–26032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton KP (1982) Rocketsonde observations of the mesospheric semiannual oscillation at Kwajalein. Atmos-Oceans 20:281–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirota I (1978) Equatorial waves in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere in relation to the semiannual oscillation of the zonal mean wind. J Atmos Sci 35:714–722

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirota I (1980) Ovservational evidence of the semiannual oscillation in the tropical middle atmosphere. Pure Appl Geophys 118:217–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hitchman MH, Leovy CB (1988) Estimation of the Kelvin wave contribution to the semiannual oscillation. J Atmos Sci 45:1462–1475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollandsworth SM, McPeters RD, Flynn LE, Planet W, Miller AJ (1995) Ozone trends deduced from combined Nimbus-7 SBUV and NOAA-11 SBUV/2 data. Geophys Res Lett 22:905–908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holton JR (1975) The dynamic meteorology of the stratosphere and mesosphere, Meteor Monographs, vol 15. American Meteorological Society, Boston, p 218

    Google Scholar 

  • Holton JR, Lindzen RS (1972) An updated theory for the quasibiennial cycle of the tropical stratosphere. J Atmos Sci 29:1076–1080

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang FT, Mayr HG, Reber CA, Russell JM III, Mlynczak MG, Mengel JG (2008) Ozone quasi-biennial oscillations (QBO), semiannual oscillations (SAO), and correlations with temperature in the mesosphere, lower thermosphere, and stratosphere, based on measurements from SABER on TIMED and MLS on UARS. J Geophys Res 113:A01316. doi:10.1029/2007JA012634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kishore Kumar G, Venkat Ratnam M, Patra AK, Vijaya Bhaskara Rao S, Russell J (2008) Mean thermal structure of the low-latitude middle atmosphere studied using Gadanki Rayleigh lidar, Rocket, and SABER/TIMED observations. J Geophys Res 113:D23106. doi:10.1029/2008JD010511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar KK (2007) Temperature profiles in the MLT region using radar-meteor trail decay times: comparison with TIMED/SABER observations. Geophys Res Lett 34:L16811. doi:10.1029/2007GL030704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar KK, Ramkumar G, Shelbi T (2007) Initial results from SKiYMET meteor radar at Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E): comparison of wind measurements with MF spaced antenna radar system. Radio Sci 42:RS6008. doi:10.1029/2006RS003551

  • Kumar KK, Deepa V, Antonita TM, Ramkumar G (2008) Meteor radar observations of short-term tidal variabilities in the low-latitude mesosphere-lower thermosphere: evidence for nonlinear wave-wave interactions. J Geophys Res 113:D16. doi:10.1029/2007JD009610

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindzen RS, Holton JR (1968) A note on Kelvin waves in the atmosphere. Mon Wea Rev 96:385–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Logan JA, Jones DBA, Megretsjaia IA, Oltmans SJ, Johnson BJ, Vömel H, Randel WJ, Kimani W, Schmidlin FJ (2003) Quasibiennial oscillation in tropical ozone as revealed by ozonesonde and satellite data. J Geophys Res 108:4244. doi:10.1029/2003JD003724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mlynczak MG (1997) Energetics of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere and the SABER experiment. Adv Space Res 20:1177–1183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagahama T, Nakane H, Fujinuma Y, Ogawa H, Mizuno A, Fukui Y (2003) A semiannual variation of ozone in the middle mesosphere observed with the millimeter-wave radiometer at Tsukuba, Japan. J Geophys Res 108(D21):4684. doi:10.1029/2003JD003724

    Google Scholar 

  • Piani C, Durran D, Alexander MJ, Holton JR (2000) A numerical study of three-dimensional gravity waves triggered by deep convection and their role in the dynamics of the QBO. J Atmos Sci 57:3689–3702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumb RA (1977) The Interaction of two internal waves with the mean flow: implications for the theory of the quasi-biennial oscillation. J Atmos Sci 34:1847–1858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumb RA (1984) The quasi-biennial oscillation. In: Holton JR, Matsuna T (eds) Dynamics of the middle atmosphere. Terra Sci., Tokyo, p 217

  • Ramkumar G, Antonita TM, Bhavani Kumar Y, Venkata Kumar H, Narayana Rao D (2006) Seasonal variation of gravity waves in the equatorial middle atmosphere: results from ISRO’s middle atmospheric dynamics (MIDAS) program. Ann Geophysicae 24:2471–2480

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randel WJ, Cobb JB (1994) Coherent variations of monthly mean total ozone and lower stratospheric temperature. J Geophys Res 99:5433–5447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randel WJ, Wu F (1996) Isolation of the ozone QBO in SAGE II data by singular value decomposition. J Atmos Sci 53:2546–2559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratnam MV, Kumar GK, Murthy BVK, Patra AK, Rao VVMJ, Rao SVB, Kumar KK, Ramkumar G (2008) Long-term variability of the low latitude mesospheric SAO and QBO and their relation with stratospheric QBO. Geophys Res Lett 35:L21809. doi:10.1029/2008GL035390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed RJ (1965) The quasi-biennial oscillation of the atmosphere between 30 and 50 km over Ascension Island. J Atmos Sci 22:331–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed RJ (1966) Zonal wind behavior in the equatorial stratosphere and lower mesosphere. J Geophys Res 71:4223–4233

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed RJ, Campbell WJ, Rasmussen LA, Rogers DG (1961) Evidence of a downward-propagating, annual wind reversal in the equatorial stratosphere. J Geophys Res 66(3):813–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rood RB, Douglass A (1985) Interpretation of ozone temperature correlations 1. Theory. J Geophys Res 90:5733–5743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell III JM, Mlynczak MG, Gordley LL, Tansock J, Esplin R (1999) An overview of the SABER experiment and preliminary calibration results. In: Proceedings of the SPIE, 44th annual meeting, Denver, Colorado, 18–23 July, vol 3756, pp 277–288

  • Schoeberl MR, Douglass AR, Newman PA, Lait LR, Lary D, Waters J, Livesey N, Froidevaux L, Lambert A, Read W, Filipiak MJ, Pumphrey HC (2008) QBO and annual cycle variations in tropical lower stratosphere trace gases from HALOE and Aura MLS observations. J Geophys Res 113:D05301. doi:10.1029/2007JD008678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson AM, Witte JC, McPeters RD, Oltmans SJ, Schmidlin FJ, Logan JA, Fujiwara M, Kirchhoff VWJH, Posny F, Coetzee GJR, Hoegger B, Kawakami S, Ogawa T, Johnson BJ, Vömel H, Labow G (2003a) Southern hemisphere additional ozonesondes (SHADOZ) 1998–2000 tropical ozone climatology 1. Comparison with total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) and ground-based measurements. J Geophys Res 108:D28238. doi:10.1029/2001JD000967

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson AM, Witte JC, Oltmans SJ, Schmidlin FJ, Logan JA, Fujiwara M, Kirchhoff VWJH, Posny F, Coetzee GJR, Hoegger B, Kawakami S, Ogawa T, Fortuin JPF, Kelder HM (2003b) Southern hemisphere additional ozonesondes (SHADOZ) 1998–2000 tropical ozone climatology 2. Tropospheric variability and the zonal wave-one. J Geophys Res 108:D28241. doi:10.1029/2002JD002241

    Google Scholar 

  • Wrasse CM, Fechine J, Takahashi H, Denardini CM, Wickert J, Mlynczak MG, Russell JM, Barbosa CL (2008) Temperature comparison between CHAMP radio occultation and TIMED/SABER measurements in the lower stratosphere. Adv Space Res 41(9):1423–1428

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuejuan C, Chunhua S, Bin Z (2005) HCL quasi-biennial oscillation in the stratosphere and a comparison with ozone QBO. Adv Atmos Sci 22(5):751–758

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support received from Space Physics Laboratory, Indian Space Research Organization as well as the various participating institutions of the MIDAS campaign.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Thiruvananthapuram, 695022, India

    Karanam Kishore Kumar, Debadatta Swain, Sherine Rachel John & Geetha Ramkumar

Authors
  1. Karanam Kishore Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Debadatta Swain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sherine Rachel John
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Geetha Ramkumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karanam Kishore Kumar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kumar, K.K., Swain, D., John, S.R. et al. Simultaneous observations of SAO and QBO in winds, temperature and ozone in the tropical middle atmosphere over Thumba (8.5°N, 77°E). Clim Dyn 37, 1961–1973 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0991-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0991-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation