Abstract
Two of the six channels of the Nimbus 7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment were located at 6.9 and 6.2 micrometers for the purpose of sounding the vertical profiles of atmospheric H2O and NO2, respectively. The results from these channels have provided new information on the global distributions, variability, and budget of these important molecules. The zonal-mean cross sections for water vapor show the presence of a hygropause in the tropical lower stratosphere, a poleward-directed gradient in the mid and lower stratosphere, and equatorward gradient above. Longitudinal variability is small and temporal changes are slow, occurring over periods of weeks to seasons. Nitrogen dioxide cross section data show the presence of an NO2 “cliff” in winter, higher mixing ratio levels in the Southern Hemisphere than in the north, pronounced diurnal variability, and very high mixing ratios in the polar night mesosphere. The sum of LIMS nighttime NO2 plus HNO3 should be a reasonable approximation of the profiles of total odd nitrogen outside the polar night regions during 1978–1979.
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© 1987 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holand.
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Remsberg, E.E., Russell, J.M. (1987). The Near Global Distributions of Middle Atmospheric H2O and NO2Measured by the Nimbus 7 LIMS Experiment. In: Visconti, G., Garcia, R. (eds) Transport Processes in the Middle Atmosphere. NATO ASI Series, vol 213. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3973-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3973-8_7
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