On the distribution of mesospheric molecular Hydrogen inferred from HALOE
measurements of H2O and CH4
J. E. Harries (1), S. Ruth (2), J. M. Russell III (3)
(1) Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, Technology,
and Medicine, University of London
(2) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxon, UK
(3) NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681
ABSTRACT
The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) is in orbit on NASA's Upper
Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), and has been used to make measurements
of a number of stratospheric and mesospheric constituents since October
1991. These include, amongst others, water vapour, H2O, and
methane, CH4, two principal components of the total hydrogen
budget of the middle atmosphere. The third main component is molecular
hydrogen, H2, which is not measurable by HALOE or any other
UARS sensor. By making the assumption that the total hydrogen content of
the middle atmosphere is a conserved quantity, and that these three constituents
dominate the budget, it is possible to infer the H2 fields in
the mesosphere from the HALOE H2O and CH4 measurements.
Geophys. Res. Lett. (1996) Vol 23, 297-300
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