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Stratospheric Temperature Changes: Observations and Model SimulationsThis paper reviews observations of stratospheric temperatures that have been made over a period of several decades. Those observed temperatures have been used to assess variations and trends in stratospheric temperatures. A wide range of observation datasets have been used, comprising measurements by radiosonde (1940s to the present), satellite (1979 - present), lidar (1979 - present) and rocketsonde (periods varying with location, but most terminating by about the mid-1990s). In addition, trends have also been assessed from meteorological analyses, based on radiosonde and/or satellite data, and products based on assimilating observations into a general circulation model. Radiosonde and satellite data indicate a cooling trend of the annual-mean lower stratosphere since about 1980. Over the period 1979-1994, the trend is 0.6K/decade. For the period prior to 1980, the radiosonde data exhibit a substantially weaker long-term cooling trend. In the northern hemisphere, the cooling trend is about 0.75K/decade in the lower stratosphere, with a reduction in the cooling in mid-stratosphere (near 35 km), and increased cooling in the upper stratosphere (approximately 2 K per decade at 50 km). Model simulations indicate that the depletion of lower stratospheric ozone is the dominant factor in the observed lower stratospheric cooling. In the middle and upper stratosphere both the well-mixed greenhouse gases (such as CO) and ozone changes contribute in an important manner to the cooling.
Document ID
19990099126
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Ramaswamy, V. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Princeton, NJ United States)
Chanin, M.-L. (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France)
Angell, J. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration United States)
Barnett, J. (Oxford Univ. Oxford, United Kingdom)
Gaffen, D. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration United States)
Gelman, M. (NCEP United States)
Keckhut, P. (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique France)
Koshelkov, Y. (Central Aerological Observatory Russia)
Labitzke, K. (Institut fuer Meteorologie Germany)
Lin, J.-J. R. (NCEP United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Subject Category
Geophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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