Stratospheric Impact on the Onset of the Mesospheric Ice Season

Abstract:

Mesospheric ice layers, observed as noctilucent clouds (NLC) from ground, are the visible manifestation of extreme conditions in the polar summer mesopause region. Temperatures fall very low so that water vapor can freeze condence, which at 69°N usually occurs beginning of June. However, in 2013 the ALOMAR RMR lidar observed the first NLC on 21 May and the clouds reoccured during the following days. These were the earliest detections since 20 years and indicated an about 10 days earlier onset of the mesospheric ice season. This is supported by the colocated MAARSY radar which showed the occurrence rates of polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSE) increasing faster than usual.
The exceptional case was accompanied by ∼6 K lower temperatures and higher water vapor mixing ratios at NLC altitudes above ALOMAR from end of April until beginning of June as measured by the MLS instrument onboard the AURA satellite. Using MERRA reanalysis data we will show that the zonal mean temperature as well as the dynamic conditions in the Arctic middle atmosphere deviated in spring 2013 significantly from the mean conditions of the last 20 years. The planetary wave activity in the high latitude stratosphere was enhanced from 20 April to beginning of May. The colder and wetter upper mesosphere in May 2013 is attributed to this unusual late planetary wave activity in the stratosphere, introducing a strong upwelling in the mesosphere, lower temperatures and an upward transport of water vapor, which finally resulted into earlier existence conditions for mesospheric ice particles. For the southern hemisphere a high correlation between winter/summer transition in the stratosphere and onset of mesospheric ice is known as intra-hemispheric coupling. We regard the processes in the Arctic middle atmosphere in spring 2013 as a first evidence for intra-hemispheric coupling in the northern hemisphere, extending from the stratosphere into the mesopause region.