Global tropopause height trends estimated from GPS radio occultation data

This study discusses global tropopause height variabilities and trends based on zonal monthly mean GPS radio occultation data from the German CHAMP satellite mission for the period May 2001–December 2007 (80 months). A data gap of missing CHAMP data in July 2006 was filled with radio occultation data of the US‐German GRACE mission. A global increase of the tropopause height between 26–44 m during the observation period (4–7 m/yr) is found depending on the binning method (5° or 10° latitude bands) and the used tropopause detection algorithm. The corresponding trend errors vary between 19–21 m. The inclusion of the quasi‐biennial oscillation in the regression model leads to a global increase of the tropopause height from 1–5 m (2–12%) during the time period depending on the binning method. Global tropopause height variations are positively correlated with upper tropospheric (500–100 hPa) and anti‐correlated with lower stratospheric (100–30 hPa) temperature variations.

[1]  T. M. Wigley,et al.  Temperature trends in the lower atmosphere: steps for understanding and reconciling differences , 1935 .

[2]  W. G. Melbourne,et al.  The application of spaceborne GPS to atmospheric limb sounding and global change monitoring , 1994 .

[3]  John R. Lanzante,et al.  Resistant, Robust and Non-Parametric Techniques for the Analysis of Climate Data: Theory and Examples, Including Applications to Historical Radiosonde Station Data , 1996 .

[4]  Robert Sausen,et al.  Identification of anthropogenic climate change using a second-generation reanalysis , 2004 .

[5]  Grzegorz Michalak,et al.  GPS radio occultation with CHAMP and GRACE: A first look at a new and promising satellite configuration for global atmospheric sounding , 2005 .

[6]  D. Seidel,et al.  Variability and trends in the global tropopause estimated from radiosonde data , 2006 .

[7]  John A. Dykema,et al.  Testing climate models using GPS radio occultation: A sensitivity analysis , 2006 .

[8]  M. Rothacher,et al.  A climatology of multiple tropopauses derived from GPS radio occultations with CHAMP and SAC‐C , 2006 .

[9]  S. Hassol,et al.  Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere: Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences , 2006 .

[10]  Vincent R. Gray.  Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere , 2006 .

[11]  D. Seidel,et al.  Observational characteristics of double tropopauses , 2007 .

[12]  Jens Wickert,et al.  Observing upper troposphere–lower stratosphere climate with radio occultation data from the CHAMP satellite , 2008 .