A comprehensive study on middle atmospheric thermal structure over a tropic and sub-tropic stations Original Research Article

The general characteristics of middle atmospheric thermal structure have been studied by making use of the Rayleigh lidar data collected over the period of about four years (1998–2001). Here, the data has been used from two different stations in the Indian sub-continent in tropics (Gadanki; 13.5°N, 79.2°E) and in sub-tropics (Mt. Abu; 24.5°N, 72.7°E). The observed monthly mean temperature profiles are compared with different model atmospheres (CIRA-86 and MSISE-90). We observed, the mean temperature profiles have closer agreement with MSISE-90 than CIRA-86. The temperature profiles measured by lidar and HALOE satellite overpass nearby lidar site are generally in agreement with each other. The systematic and statistical errors in deriving temperature are found to be uniform for both the stations, as ∼1 K at 50 km, ∼3 K at 60 km and ∼10 K at 70 km. The special features of mesospheric temperature inversion (MTI) and double stratopause structure (DBS) are also addressed for both the stations.