CEDAR Postdoc: Polar Mesospheric Cloud Structures as Evidence of Coupling Between the Upper and Lower Atmosphere

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This project is an investigation of Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) that uses both satellite observations and model simulations to determine the cloud occurrence frequency, variation with latitude and longitude, and the possible response to the lower atmosphere through waves and the large scale circulation. The satellite data are from the CIPS instrument on the NASA AIM satellite. AIM stands for Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere; CIPS measures atmospheric and cloud radiances. The models to be used are the National Center for Atmospheric Research WACCM model (Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model) and the Navy Research Laboratory's NOGAPS ALPHA model; NOGAPS ALPHA stands for Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System Advanced Level Physics and High Altitude Model . Both models are whole atmosphere models that extend from the ground to the lower thermosphere and include waves excited in the troposphere and their effects as they propagate vertically to higher altitudes. The satellite data will be processed to identify PMC occurrences, to determine the size of the particles in the clouds, and to identify the meteorological conditions necessary for formation of PMC ''ice voids'', dark regions in the centers of the clouds that are regularly observed. The two models will assimilate measured meteorological parameters during the observing period in order to provide realistic predictions of the temperatures and winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Joint analysis of the data and model results will be done to isolate the conditions that do and do not support the appearance of the ice voids. The broader impacts of the project include the support of a new female researcher and the contribution to the CEDAR program goals of better understanding of the polar atmosphere and the coupling between atmospheric regions.