HR: 0800h
AN: SA21A-0259    [Abstracts]
TI: Six Years of NLC Analysis from the Odin Satellite
AU: * Karlsson, B
EM: bodil@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology Stockholm University, Stockholm University, stockholm, 106 91, Sweden
AU: Gumbel, J
EM: gumbel@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology Stockholm University, Stockholm University, stockholm, 106 91, Sweden
AU: Petelina, S
EM: s.petelina@latrobe.edu.au
AF: La Trobe university, la trobe university, victoria, australia, melbourne, 3086, Australia
AU: Rapp, M
EM: rapp @ iap-kborn.de
AF: Leibniz- Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Schloss-Straße 6, Kühlungsborn, 18225, Germany
AU: Stegman, J
EM: jacek@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology Stockholm University, Stockholm University, stockholm, 106 91, Sweden
AU: witt, G
EM: gwitt@misu.su.se
AF: Department of Meteorology Stockholm University, Stockholm University, stockholm, 106 91, Sweden
AB: The Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS) onboard the Odin satellite observes noctilucent clouds in the limb at wavelengths between 280 and 800 nm. Since Odin's launch in 2001, mesospheric observation schemes have successively been extended. Today, Odin performs daily limb measurements between 10 and 110 km during the NLC seasons, covering latitudes up to 82° in the north and all the way to the pole in the south. Based on these observations we provide seasonal and latitudinal climatologies of NLCs between 2002 and 2007. From 2 weeks before until 6 weeks after summer solstice a more or less continuous cloud cover is found above 75° latitude. NLC brightnesses increase generally towards higher latitudes. NLCs in the northern hemisphere tend to be brighter than in the southern hemisphere. From the spectral analysis of the OSIRIS data, we derive an effective optical radius as a measure for NLC particle sizes. This effective radius provides a robust parameter for climatological studies of NLC properties as it is less dependent on instrumental and viewing conditions than the cloud brightness. Our analysis shows smaller particle sizes in the southern hemisphere for most seasons. We suggest that the smaller radii and the weaker cloud brightness in the southern hemisphere result from the higher planetary wave activity in the NH winter stratosphere via an interhemispheric coupling. The Odin mission is currently scheduled to continue at least until 2008, as a third party mission within the ESA Earthnet programme, thus providing excellent opportunities for joint mesospheric studies with the AIM satellite.
DE: 3334 Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342)
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting