Middle Atmosphere Research

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Our Atmospheric Physics research aims at a better understanding of the middle atmosphere between 10 and 100 km. A particular focus is on the processes that control the Earth's mesosphere as a transition region between the lower atmosphere and our near space environment.

Long-term goals of our research programme are

• to establish the distribution and properties of important trace gases, aerosols and clouds in the middle atmosphere,
• to obtain a better understanding of the microphysical, radiative, and chemical interactions that determine their properties and variability, and
• to understand underlying transport processes and the dynamical coupling between various parts of the atmosphere.

People

Who are we in the Atmospheric Physics Group ?

Research

Experimental efforts are at the core of our research programme. Remote sensing and in situ techniques are applied from satellites, sounding rockets, balloons and the ground. The development of retrieval algorithms complements this work. Laboratory studies aim at the development of improved measuring techniques. Related modelling efforts are essential to couple measurement data to our scientific objectives. Obviously, extensive international co-operation is of central importance for these projects.

Satellite projects:

• The Odin Mission - A Swedish satellite for middle atmospheric research
• Odin studies of noctilucent clouds
• Odin studies of water vapour and temperature
• Odin studies of mesospheric metal layers
• Summer mesosphere studies with ACE on SCISAT
• STEAM - a satellite for the upper troposphere / lower stratosphere

Rocket projects:

• PHOCUS - particles and chemistry in the polar summer mesosphere
• MAGIC - meteoric particles in the mesosphere
• eARI / SLAM - ice particles and Lyman-α in the summer mesosphere
• Hygrosonde - water measurements in the middle atmosphere
• Hygrosonde-II - a middle atmospheric campaign complementing Odin

Ground-based studies:

• The Esrange Lidar - structure and dynamics of the middle atmosphere
• Airglow spectroscopy - long-term studies of the mesopause region
• Cirrus particle properties - a bi-static lidar study
• NLC movies - recorded from Stockholm University

Model studies:

• Meteoric particles in the Earth's atmosphere
• Sensitivity of the middle atmosphere to doubling of CO2
• Rarefied aerodynamics - a study on perturbations

Workshops and summer schools:

• Aerosol School 2005
• Limb Workshop 2004

Picture Gallery

• See some photos from our research projects.

Responsible for this page: Jörg Gumbel (gumbel@misu.su.se).
Last updated: November 21, 2006.