The Atmosphere

Dynamics and ionisation in the Antarctic middle atmosphere

Principal Investigator: Adrian McDonald
Organisation: University of Canterbury

Our studies investigate the Antarctic middle atmosphere’s response to natural and man-made factors which change climate and the feedbacks in the atmosphere which couple this change to climate change at the surface. The measurements made by the Scott Base MF radar provide valuable climate information about how the flow in the middle atmosphere (70-100 km) has changed. The Scott Base radar record, wind measurements have been made since 1982, is one of the longest duration climate records of this type of data in the world. This record along with observations from satellite instruments allows the coupling between the middle atmosphere and the surface over Antarctica to be examined, this coupling is often associated with wave-like motions in the atmosphere that the MF radar is particularly good at observing. This type of study is important because improvements in the predictive ability of the current generation of climate models may be particularly sensitive to the coupling processes that we examine.

Recent Publications:
P. E. Huck, S. Tilmes, G. E. Bodeker, W. J. Randel, and A. J. McDonald, (2007), An improved measure of ozone depletion in the Antarctic stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D11104, doi:10.1029/2006JD007860.

A. J. McDonald, A. J. G. Baumgaertner et al., (2007), Empirical Mode Decomposition of the Atmospheric Wave Field, Annales Geophys., 25, 375-384..

A. J. G. Baumgaertner and A. J. McDonald, (2007), A gravity wave climatology for Antarctica compiled from CHAMP/GPS radio occultations, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D05103, doi:10.1029/2006JD007504.