Ozone quasi‐biennial oscillations (QBO), semiannual oscillations (SAO), and correlations with temperature in the mesosphere, lower thermosphere, and stratosphere, based on measurements from SABER on TIMED and MLS on UARS

Abstract

The ozone and temperature measurements from Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) on the Thermosphere‐Ionosphere‐Mesosphere‐Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite form a unique set. They provide global information over the range of local solar times, from the lower stratosphere into the lower thermosphere, going back to 2002, by one instrument. On the basis of zonal means of these data, we present new results from 20 to 100 km in altitude and from 48°S to 48°N in latitude of ozone and temperature semiannual oscillations (SAO) and quasi‐biennial oscillations (QBO). While some of the results are new for the stratosphere, such results for the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) have not been available before. The SAO and QBO components are mostly symmetric with respect to the Equator. The correlations of ozone and temperatures provide the opportunity to study the relative effects of dynamics and chemistry. Our results show that the ozone oscillations are largely and positively correlated to those of the temperature below about 30 km and above 80 km, and mostly anti‐correlated with temperature between about 30 and 80 km. We compare with measurements made about 10 years earlier by the MLS instrument on UARS, and with results by others from the solar mesosphere explorer (SME) satellite, the solar backscatter ultraviolet (SBUV), space shuttle experiments (CRISTA), and ground‐based measurements.