Polar middle atmosphere temperature climatology from Rayleigh lidar measurements at ALOMAR (69deg; N)

摘要

Rayleigh lidar temperature profiles have been derived inthe polar middle atmosphere from 834 measurements with the ALOMARRayleigh/Mie/Raman lidar (69.3° N, 16.0° E) inthe years 1997–2005. Since our instrument is able to operate under fulldaylight conditions, the unique data set presented here extends over theentire year and covers the altitude region 30 km–85 kmin winter and 30 km–65 km in summer. Comparisons of ourlidar data set to reference atmospheres and ECMWF analyses show agreementwithin a few Kelvin in summer but in winter higher temperatures below55 km and lower temperatures above by as much as 25 K, duelikely to superior resolution of stratospheric warming and associatedmesospheric cooling events.We also present a temperature climatology for the entire lower and middleatmosphere at 69° N obtained from a combination of lidarmeasurements, falling sphere measurements and ECMWF analyses. Day to daytemperature variability in the lidar data is found to be largest in winterand smallest in summer.