Satellite and Ground-Based Measurements of Mesospheric Temperature Variability over Cerro Pachon, Chile (30.3$^{\circ}$ S)

POSTER

Abstract

Observations of mesospheric OH (6,2) rotational temperatures by the Utah State University Mesospheric Temperature Mapper (MTM) located at the Andes Lidar Observatory, Cerro Pachon, Chile (30.3$^{\circ}$ S, 70.7$^{\circ}$ W) reveal a large range of nightly variations induced by atmospheric gravity waves and tides, as well as strong seasonal oscillations. This study investigates MTM temperature variability over the past 4 years comprising over 800 nights of high-quality data and compares the results with MTM measurements from Maui, Hawaii (2001-2005) and coincident mesospheric temperature measurement by the SABER instrument on the NASA TIMED satellite.

*This research is supported under NSF collaborative grant \#0737698.

Authors

  • Jonathan Pugmire

    • Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University
  • Michael Taylor

    • Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University
  • Yucheng Zhao

    • Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University
  • P. Dominique Pautet

    • Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Utah State University
  • James Russell

    • Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Hampton University