HR: 0800h
AN: ED51D-0045    [Abstracts]
TI: An Undergraduate Research Project in Atmospheric Science: Studies of Recent Unusual Arctic Stratospheric Winters
AU: * Sena, S
EM: amina@weasel.nmhu.edu
AF: New Mexico Highlands University, Department of Nartural Sciences, Las Vegas, NM 87701
AU: Manney, G L
EM: manney@mls.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: New Mexico Highlands University, Department of Nartural Sciences, Las Vegas, NM 87701
AU: Manney, G L
EM: manney@mls.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, M/S 183-701, Pasadena, CA 91109
AU: Sabutis, J L
EM: jsabutis@countcrow.nmhu.edu
AF: New Mexico Highlands University, School of Education and Department of Mathematical Sciences, Las Vegas, NM 87701
AB: As an undergraduate student in the Natural Resources Management Program at New Mexico Highlands University, I have been involved in atmospheric research under the supervision of Drs. Gloria Manney and Joseph Sabutis for several years. This research focuses on the dynamics of the stratosphere, which extends from 15 to 50 kilometers above the Earth's surface, and is where the majority of ozone depletion takes place. Polar stratospheric clouds form in the winter polar vortex region where low temperatures and isolated conditions set the stage for ozone depletion. Using global, gridded, meteorological data sets, have been involved in creating two and three-dimensional plots of critical characteristics to assist in monitoring, understanding, and visualizing the polar vortex. Recently we have focused on "major stratospheric sudden warmings" in the 2003-2004 Northern Hemispheric winter. By analyzing winds and temperatures, we showed how unique the warmings in the 2003-2004 winter were, and how extreme the winter was in comparison to previous years. In this poster, my involvement and experiences working on this research project are described, along with the main conclusions of this research. Future work will involve creating a three dimensional visualization of the polar vortex to show the evolution and disruption during stratospheric warmings.
DE: 3334 Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342)
DE: 0341 Middle atmosphere--constituent transport and chemistry (3334)
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting