Geostrophic wind fields in the stratosphere and mesosphere from satellite data

Abstract

Daily maps of horizontally resolved zonal and meridional geostrophic wind fields in the altitude range of 20–90 km were obtained from the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere (CRISTA) experiment during November 1994 and August 1997. Results are compared with zonal mean zonal winds from climatological sources and with assimilated data from standard analyses. Correlative data from ground-based and balloon- and rocket-borne measurements are used to validate the CRISTA winds. The comparisons show that geostrophic wind fields from high spatial resolution satellite-borne temperature measurements are a good approximation for the winds in the middle atmosphere up to mesopause heights. Therefore, they may be used as input for further modeling efforts particularly in the mesosphere, where no wind data from standard analyses are available.