Dr. Paul A. Newman (NASA/GSFC) has put together this climatology to provide a broad meteorological context for a mission based on Decimomannu in Sardinia.
The plots have been standardized to Orthographic projections centered on the equator. The range ring around Decimomannu is 2195 km. The GH could fly to this ring and then dwell there for 20 hours.
The met data used herein are derived from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis fields. NCEP and NCAR cooperated to produce a 40-year record of global analyses of atmospheric fields in support of the needs of the research and climate monitoring communities. This effort involved the recovery of land surface, ship, rawinsonde, pibal, aircraft, satellite and other data, quality controlling and assimilating those data with a data assimilation system which is kept unchanged over the reanalysis period 1957 through 2000. This eliminated perceived climate jumps associated with changes in the data assimilation system. Further details can be found at the NCEP/NCAR CDAS/Reanalysis Project homepage. NCEP Reanalysis 2 data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/
Mediterranean FIR boundaries with temperature on the 100 hPa surface.
These are combined 550nm aerosol optical thicknesses from a climatology provided to me by Peter Colarco. The flow field is the NCEP/NCAR 850hpa wind field.
Aerosol optical thickness Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
These are NO2 tropospheric columns from a climatology provided to me by Jim Gleason. The flow field is the NCEP/NCAR 850hpa wind field. I've degraded the data from a 0.05 resolution to a 0.5 deg. resolution in both lat and lon.
NO2 (10^16) Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
These are combined tropospheric column ozone values from a climatology provided to me by Jerry Ziemke. The flow field is the NCEP/NCAR 850hpa wind field.
Tropospheric Column Ozone with 850 hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Tropospheric Column Ozone with 300 hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Zoomed in a bit
Tropospheric Column Ozone with 850 hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Tropospheric Column Ozone with 300 hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
These are OLR values from the NOAA web site.
Tropospheric Column Ozone with 850 hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Tropospheric Column Ozone with 300 hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Rain from the Global Precipiation Analysis in mm/day.
Rain rates with the 850hPa flow. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS ozone values from level 2 data (see mls_climo_write.pro for details on how the averages are constructed
MLS o3 with 146hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS o3 with 100hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS o3 with 68hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS o3 with 46hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS o3 with 31hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS CO values from level 2 data (see mls_climo_write.pro for details on how the averages are constructed
MLS CO with 146hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS CO with 100hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS CO with 68hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS CO with 46hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
MLS CO with 31hPa flow Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
The colors are for temperature. The white lines are zonal winds. The thick purple line is the tropopause. The vertical line at 40N indicates Decimomannu. The box shows the altitude range of the GH. The outer lines show the GH latitude range with a 10 hour loiter time at the box edge. The closer line about about 20N and 60N are the range lines with 20 hour loiter times.
Temperature zonal mean Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Temperature cross section at 10E Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Black contours are indicated for every 1 K. The thick solid redish lines are the stream lines derived from the zonal and meridional wind averages.
November 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
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October 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
The colors are for relative humidity. The white lines are zonal winds. The thick purple line is the tropopause. The vertical line at 40N indicates Decimomannu. The box shows the altitude range of the GH. The outer lines show the GH latitude range with a 10 hour loiter time at the box edge. The closer line about about 20N and 60N are the range lines with 20 hour loiter times.
relative humidity zonal mean Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
relative humidity cross section at 10E Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Black contours are indicated for every 5%. The thick solid redish lines are the stream lines derived from the zonal and meridional wind averages.
November 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
December 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
January 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
February 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
March 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
April 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
May 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
June 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
July 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
August 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
September 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
October 1000 MB 925 MB 850 MB 700 MB 600 MB 500 MB 400 MB 300 MB 250 MB 200 MB 150 MB 100 MB 70 MB 50 MB
Code 613.3 Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch
Laboratory for Atmospheres
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Building 33, Room E320
(301) 614-5985 fax: x-5903
Last Updated: 2008-11-26
Author: Dr. Paul A. Newman
(NASA/GSFC, Code 613.3) )