CEDAR Postdoc: Observational and Modeling Studies of Dynamical Forcing on Polar Mesospheric Clouds

University Corporation For Atmospheric Res, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to support a postdoctoral researcher to study polar mesospheric clouds (PMC). The study will make use of a combination of satellite observations and numerical models to study the global variation of PMC brightness and occurrence frequency, and determine the dependence on transient mesospheric dynamics. The satellite observations are from the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer (SNOE) and the Thermosphere, Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) spacecraft. The combined data sets will be used to establish the connection between dynamical features seen in the SNOE observations and their counterpart in temperature and water vapor measured by TIMED. The data will be combined with an atmospheric climate model and a cloud microphysics model to help clarify the dynamical processes that give rise to observed variability in temperature and water vapor in the middle atmosphere.