No abstract

An exceptionally strong stationary planetary wave with Zonal Wavenumber 1 led to a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) in the Southern Hemisphere in September 2019. Ionospheric data from European Space Agency's Swarm satellite constellation mission show prominent 6‐day variations in the dayside low‐latitude region at this time, which can be attributed to forcing from the middle atmosphere by the Rossby normal mode “quasi‐6‐day wave” (Q6DW). Geopotential height measurements by the Microwave Limb Sounder aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Aura satellite reveal a burst of global Q6DW activity in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere during the SSW, which is one of the strongest in the record. The Q6DW is apparently generated in the polar stratosphere at 30–40 km, where the atmosphere is unstable due to strong vertical wind shear connected with planetary wave breaking. These results suggest that an Antarctic SSW can lead to ionospheric variability through wave forcing from the middle atmosphere.

Abstract. The EU CANDIDOZ project investigated the chemical and dynamical influences on decadal ozone trends focusing on the Northern Hemisphere. High quality longterm ozone data sets, satellite-based as well as ground-based, and the long-term meteorological reanalyses from ECMWF and NCEP are used together with advanced multiple regression models and atmospheric models to assess the relative roles of chemistry and transport in stratospheric ozone changes. This overall synthesis of the individual analyses in CANDIDOZ shows clearly one common feature in the NH mid latitudes and in the Arctic: an almost monotonic negative trend from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s followed by an increase. In most trend studies, the Equivalent Effective Stratospheric Chlorine (EESC) which peaked in 1997 as a consequence of the Montreal Protocol was observed to describe

[1] Anthropogenic increases of greenhouse gases warm the troposphere but have a cooling effect in the middle and upper atmosphere. The steady increase of CO 2 is the dominant cause of upper atmosphere trends; other drivers are long-term changes of radiatively active trace gases such as CH 4 , O 3 , and H 2 O, secular change of solar and geomagnetic activity, and evolution of the Earth's magnetic field. Observational and model studies have confirmed that in the past several decades, global cooling has occurred in the mesosphere and thermosphere; the cooling and contraction of the upper atmosphere has lowered the ionosphere and increased electron density in the E and F 1 regions. Trends of other parameters, including the F 2 region, mesospheric clouds, and mesopause wave activity, have been more controversial. Modeling investigations have demonstrated that both greenhouse gas forcing and secular change of the Earth's magnetic field can cause regional, diurnal, and seasonal variability of trends in F 2 region density and height, which may contribute to discrepancies regarding ionospheric trends. Recent studies also may have reconciled discrepancies between space-based and ground-based observations of mesospheric clouds: both types of observations do not find statistically significant trends in the ∼54°N-∼64°N latitude region, but space-based observations indicate that clouds may be increasing in frequency at higher latitude. Limited observational studies have suggested possible trends in wave activity. Changes in atmospheric dynamics, both as a consequence of global change in the lower and middle atmosphere and as a possible driver of trends in the upper atmosphere, is one of the critical open questions regarding trends in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere.

[1] A train of large amplitude infrasound wave packets was observed by multipoint Continuous Doppler sounding system in the ionosphere over the Czech Republic on 11 March 2011. It is shown that these infrasound wave packets originated from vertical motion of the ground surface that was caused by arrival of seismic waves generated by the strong Tohoku earthquake. The infrasound wave packets were observed in the ionosphere at heights of $210-220 km about 9 min after the detection of corresponding wave packets on the ground, which is consistent with the calculated time for vertically propagating infrasound waves. Absolute values of cross-correlation coefficients between ionospheric and ground measurements are typically higher than 0.9 (for two wave packets $0.98). The individual wave packets recorded on the ground have different observed horizontal velocities and correspond to different types of seismic waves. A comparison of vertical velocities of ground motion with oscillation velocities of air particles in the ionosphere indicates that almost 1/10 of the infrasound energy flux excited at the ground reached the altitudes of $210-220 km for wave periods longer than $30 s. Estimates of sound attenuation are performed. It is also shown that it is necessary to consider the value of electron density gradient at the reflection height of the sounding radio wave, and air (plasma) compression owing to the infrasound wave to get reasonable estimates of oscillation velocities of air particles from Doppler shift frequencies.