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Schmidt et al. 2006
Schmidt, T., Beyerle, G., Heise, S., Wickert, J. and Rothacher, M. (2006). A climatology of multiple tropopauses derived from GPS radio occultations with CHAMP and SAC-C. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2005GL024600. issn: 0094-8276.

A global climatology of multiple tropopauses (MT) is discussed based on Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) data from the German CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload) and the US-Argentinian SAC-C (Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C) satellite mission for the period May 2001--April 2005. In this study we present first detailed investigations about the geographical and temporal distribution of MT during different seasons. The thickness of the layer between the lowest (first) and highest (last) tropopause has a strong annual cycle. In the vicinity of the subtropical jet (STJ) stream region values vary between 4--5 km during winter and 2--3 km during summer, respectively, whereas higher differences were found on the northern hemisphere. It is shown that the occurrence distribution of MT is in good agreement with the mean climatological location of the STJ (30¿--40¿) on both hemispheres, in particular during winter time.

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Atmospheric Processes, Climatology (1616, 1620, 3305, 4215, 8408), Atmospheric Processes, Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342), Atmospheric Processes, Remote sensing, Atmospheric Processes, Stratosphere/troposphere interactions
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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