Department of Earth System Science

Several studies have been carried out on the tropopause, stratopause, and mesopause (collectively termed as ‘pauses’) independently; however, all the pauses have not been studied together. We present global distribution of altitudes and temperatures of these pauses observed with long-term space borne high-resolution measurements of Global Positioning System (GPS) Radio Occultation (RO) and Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) aboard Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. Here we study the commonality and differences observed in the variability of all the pauses. We also examined how good other datasets will represent these features among (and in between) different satellite measurements, re-analysis, and model data. Hemispheric differences observed in all the pauses are also reported. In addition, we show that asymmetries between northern and southern hemispheres continue up to the mesopause. We analyze inter and intra-seasonal variations and long-term trends of these pauses at different latitudes. Finally, a new reference temperature profile is shown from the ground to 110 km for tropical, mid-latitudes, and polar latitudes for both northern and southern hemispheres.