HR: 10:55h
AN: SA41C-03    [PDF]
TI: Global Satellite Observations of the Sodium Layer
AU: * Gumbel, J
EM: gumbel@misu.su.se
AF: Stockholm University, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Karlsson, B
EM: bodil@misu.su.se
AF: Stockholm University, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Stegman, J
EM: jacek@misu.su.se
AF: Stockholm University, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Witt, G
EM: gwitt@misu.su.se
AF: Stockholm University, Department of Meteorology, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden
AU: Plane, J
EM: J.Plane@uea.ac.uk
AF: University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ United Kingdom
AU: Fan, L
EM: Z.Fan@uea.ac.uk
AF: University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ United Kingdom
AU: Murray, B
EM: B.Murray@uea.ac.uk
AF: University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ United Kingdom
AB: Improved understanding of the fate of meteoric material in the Earth's atmosphere requires collaboration between a wide range of scientific disciplines. Much progress has been made in recent years concerning meteoroid influx, ablation processes and subsequent chemistry. The present study contributes to these research efforts by providing a global climatology of the mesospheric sodium layer. We present data from the OSIRIS optical spectrometer onboard the Swedish Odin satellite. Limb scattering profiles from the sodium layer are observed at the atomic Na D resonance lines near 590 nm. A detailed forward model for the resonance radiative transfer has been developed; profiles of sodium number density are retrieved using an Optimal Estimation Method (OEM). Retrieved profiles reveal the seasonal and latitudinal dependence of the sodium layer. These are compared to local climatologies of lidar measurements. Complementary model simulations are based on comprehensive new laboratory results on mesospheric sodium chemistry.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 6015 Dust
SC: SPA - Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting