NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Vertical constituent transport in the mesosphereGround-based microwave spectroscopy measurements of mesospheric CO and H2O vertical mixing ratio profiles are used to infer vertical mixing rates in the upper mesosphere. The CO and H2O data consistently imply vertical eddy diffusion coefficients in the 70- to 85-km region of 100,000-200,000 sq cm/s during spring through summer at midlatidues. Although chemical acceleration of vertical transport is substantial for O and O3, below the mesopause, the divergences of their associated fluxes are modest, with at most a factor of 2 effect on the concentrations of O and O3 for measured variability in gravity wave activity. Comparison of Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME) O3 data with model results reinforces the conclusions of slow vertical mixing in the upper mesosphere as a consequence of the reduced HO(x) catalytic loss of odd oxygen. The changes in chemical rate constants recommended by Rusch and Eckman (1985), in conjunction with slow vertical mixing, yield good agreement with SME O3 data. The slow vertical mixing deduced in this study is consistent with upper limits obtained from studies of the mesospheric heat budget and could be construed as evidence for an advectively controlled mesosphere. A comparison of the vertical eddy diffusion coefficients for momentum stresses, constituent transport, and heat transport suggests that the eddy Prandtl number must be of order 10.
Document ID
19870059211
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Strobel, Darrell F.
(Science Applications International Corp., McLean, VA; Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, United States)
Summers, Michael E.
(Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD, United States)
Bevilacqua, Richard M.
(U.S. Navy, E. O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Washington DC, United States)
Deland, Matthew T.
(U.S. Navy, E. O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Washington, DC; Bendix Field Engineering Corp., United States)
Allen, Mark
(California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
June 20, 1987
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Geophysical Research
Volume: 92
ISSN: 0148-0227
Subject Category
Geophysics
Accession Number
87A46485
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-826
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-796
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available