Atmospheric Dynamics at Austral High Latitudes

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The proposal seeks funding to continue investigations of the dynamical coupling between the stratosphere and the upper regions of the atmosphere, such as the mesosphere and thermosphere. The long-term wintertime mesospheric kinetic temperature observations at South Pole and McMurdo have shown clearly the presence of this dynamical coupling in the Southern Hemisphere through a strong correlation with the maximum stratospheric springtime temperatures at the altitudes of polar stratospheric clouds and. The latter temperatures identify the area where air is sufficiently cold for ice crystals to form. The ice crystals are catalysts in the ozone destruction process and therefore may control the ozone hole area. These results indicate that the dynamical processes leading to the stratospheric warming or cooling are already in place during the austral winter and the early mesospheric signals lead to the potential capability to estimate the springtime ozone hole area. Further observations on these phenomena are needed to better understand the underlying physical processes. The long-term mesospheric measurements in Antarctica provide a window of knowledge into the dynamics of the atmosphere and their effects on global climate changes. Continued reliance on students provides a broader impact of this proposed research and firmly grounds this effort in its educational mission.