HR: 0830h
AN: SA41B-0439    [PDF]
TI: SABER Observations of Polar Summer/Winter Mesospheric and Lower Thermospheric Temperatures and Comparisons With Correlative Measurements Taken During the MaCWAVE Campaign
AU: Remsberg, E E
EM: e.e.remsberg@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, Atmospheric Sciences Division, 21 Langley Blvd., Hampton, VA 23681-2199 United States
AU: * Mertens, C J
EM: c.j.mertens@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, Atmospheric Sciences Division, 21 Langley Blvd., Hampton, VA 23681-2199 United States
AU: Schmidlin, F J
EM: Francis.J.Schmidlin@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Code 972, Wallops Island, VA 23337 United States
AU: Goldberg, R A
EM: Richard.A.Goldberg@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 690, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: She, C
EM: joeshe@lamar.colostate.edu
AF: Colorado State University, Physics Department, 200 West Lake Street, Fort Collins, VA 80523-1875 United States
AU: Williams, B P
EM: biffw@lamar.colostate.edu
AF: Colorado State University, Physics Department, 200 West Lake Street, Fort Collins, VA 80523-1875 United States
AU: Pesnell, W D
EM: pesnell@nomadresearch.com
AF: Nomad Research, Inc., 795 Scarborough Court, Arnold, MD 21012 United States
AU: Russell, J M
EM: james.russell@hamptonu.edu
AF: Hampton University, Center for Atmospheric Sciences, 23 Tyler Street, Hampton, VA 23668 United States
AU: Mlynczak, M G
EM: m.g.mlynczak@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, Atmospheric Sciences Division, 21 Langley Blvd., Hampton, VA 23681-2199 United States
AU: Gordley, L L
EM: l.l.gordley@gats-inc.com
AF: G \& A Technical Software, Inc., 11864 Canon Blvd., Suite 101, Newport News, VA 23606 United States
AU: Lopez-Puertas, M
EM: puertas@iaa.es
AF: Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIS), Apdo. 3004, Granada, 18080 Spain
AU: Picard, R H
EM: richard.picard@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratories, Hanscom Air Force Base, Hanscom, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Winick, J R
EM: jeremy.winick@hanscom.af.mil
AF: Air Force Research Laboratories, Hanscom Air Force Base, Hanscom, MA 01731-3010 United States
AU: Wintersteiner, P P
EM: winters@arcon.com
AF: Arcon Corporation, 260 Bear Hill Road, Waltham, MA 02451 United States
AB: The Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment was launched onboard the TIMED satellite in December 2001. SABER derives kinetic temperature (Tk) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) from broadband measurements of CO$_{2}$ 15 um limb emission, in combination with measurements of CO$_{2}$ 4.3 um limb emission used to derive CO$_{2}$ volume mixing ratio. Infrared emissions from the CO$_{2}$ ro-vibrational bands are in non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) in the MLT, requiring non-LTE processes to be accurately modeled in the retrieval algorithm. In this paper we focus on Tk and show results derived from the non-LTE retrieval algorithm. We demonstrate the ability to retrieve Tk in an extreme non-LTE environment by comparing SABER MLT Tk with rocket falling sphere (FS) and sodium lidar measurements taken during the 2002 summer MaCWAVE campaign. The summer Tk profiles show that the SABER non-LTE retrieval algorithm improves upper mesospheric Tk retrievals by 35 K to 45 K, as compared to SABER LTE Tk retrievals. Combined measurements from SABER and MaCWAVE show a mesopause region that is highly variable in space and time. SABER data also show a mesopause altitude that changes with latitude and season, consistent with the bimodal character of the mesopause height. We also show preliminary comparisons with the recently available FS and sodium lidar measurements taken during the 2003 winter MaCWAVE campaign.
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0350 Pressure, density, and temperature
DE: 0360 Transmission and scattering of radiation
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: SPA - Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting