Abstract:
Studying the middle atmospheric thermal structure over southern Africa is an important
activity to improve the understanding of atmospheric dynamics of this region. Observations
of a middle atmosphere thermal structure over Durban, South Africa (29.9°S, 31.0°E) using the
Durban Rayleigh Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data collected over 277 nights from
April 1999 to July 2004, including closest overpasses of the Sounding of the Atmosphere using
Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) and Halogen Occultation Experiments (HALOE)
satellites, are presented in this paper. There seems to be good agreement between the LIDAR
and satellite observations. During autumn and winter, the temperatures measured by the
LIDAR in the height region between 40 km and 55 km were 5 K to 12 K higher than those
measured by the satellites. The data from the LIDAR instrument and the SABER and HALOE
satellites exhibited the presence of an annual oscillation in the stratosphere, whereas in the
mesosphere, semi-annual oscillations dominated the annual oscillation at some levels. The
stratopause was observed in the height range of ~40 km – 55 km by all the instruments, with
the stratopause temperatures measured as 260 K – 270 K by the LIDAR, 250 K – 260 K by
the SABER and 250 K – 270 K by the HALOE. Data from the SABER and HALOE satellites
indicated almost the same thermal structure for the middle atmosphere over Durban.
