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The polar night jet develops at high latitudes in the altitude range 30 to 70 km in winter time. The polar night jet (PNJ) shows the highest mean wind speeds observed in the atmosphere and likely plays an important role in multi-step vertical coupling not only from the ground, but also from the upper atmosphere downwards.PNJ not only controls the propagation and dissipation of gravity waves (GWs), it can also be a source of GWs due to spontaneous emission. However, the observations of interaction of GWs with PNJ are extremely difficult. We operate lidar instruments capable of measuring temperatures and winds above northern Norway (ALOMAR, 69°N) and northern Germany (Kühlungsborn, 54°N). The instruments observed the atmosphere inside and outside the Polar Vortex for more than 10 years. Using lidar measurements of temperatures and winds allows for studying up- and downward-propagating GWs in complicated dynamical situations that are often found at the polar vortex edge. Observing simultaneously up- and downward propagating waves may indicate gravity wave breakdown and secondary wave generation. We discuss the relationship between waves characteristics as observed by our lidar instruments and the polar vortex based on ECMWF data., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

During six nights between January and March 2018 we observed the mesospheric Ni layer by lidar from Kühlungsborn, Germany (54°N, 12°E). For most of the soundings we utilized for the first time a transition from the low‐lying excited NI(³D) state at 341 nm. For additional soundings we used the ground‐state Ni(³F) transition at 337 nm, giving similar results but a worse signal‐to‐noise ratio. We observed nightly mean Ni peak densities between ∼280 and 450 cm‾³ and column abundances between 3.1·108 and 4.9·108 cm‾². Comparing with iron densities we get a Fe/Ni ratio of 38, which is a factor of 2 larger than the ratio in CI chondrites and factor of 32 larger than the Fe/Ni ratio observed by the only previous measurement of mesospheric Ni (Collins et al., 2015, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062716). The underabundance of Ni compared to CI chondrites suggests that Ni is more efficiently sequestered as Ni+ or neutral reservoir species than Fe.

We report on the observations of 188 sporadic layers of either Ca atoms and/or Ca ions that we have observed during 112 nights of lidar soundings of Ca, and 58 nights of Ca+ soundings, at Kühlungsborn, Germany (54° N, 12° E). The Ca+ soundings have been performed simultaneously and in a common volume with the Ca soundings by two separate lidars. Correlations between sporadic neutral and ionized metal layers are demonstrated through four case studies. A systematic study of the variations of occurrence of sporadic Ca and Ca+ layers reveals that neutral and ionized Ca layers are not as closely correlated as expected earlier: (a) The altitude distribution shows the simultaneous occurrence of both sporadic Ca and Ca+ layers to be most likely only in the narrow altitude range between 90 and 95 km. Above that region, in the lower thermosphere, the sporadic ion layers are much more frequent than atom layers. Below 90 km only very few sporadic layers have been observed; (b) The seasonal variation of sporadic Ca layers exhibits a minimum of occurrence in summer, while sporadic Ca+ layers do not show a significant seasonal variation (only the dense Ca+ layers appear to have a maximum in summer). At mid-latitudes sporadic Ca layers are more frequent than sporadic layers of other atmospheric metals like Na or K. For the explanation of our observations new formation mechanisms are discussed.Key words. Ionosphere (ion chemistry and composition; ionosphere-atmosphere interactions; mid-latitude ionosphere)

The dissociative recombination of CaO+ ions with electrons has been studied in a flowing afterglow reactor. CaO+ was generated by the pulsed laser ablation of a Ca target, followed by entrainment in an Ar+ ion/electron plasma. A kinetic model describing the gas-phase chemistry and diffusion to the reactor walls was fitted to the experimental data, yielding a rate coefficient of (3.0 ± 1.0) × 10¯⁷ cm³ molecule¯¹ s¯¹ at 295 K. This result has two atmospheric implications. First, the surprising observation that the Ca+/Fe+ ratio is ~8 times larger than Ca/Fe between 90 and 100 km in the atmosphere can now be explained quantitatively by the known ion-molecule chemistry of these two metals. Second, the rate of neutralization of Ca+ ions in a descending sporadic E layer is fast enough to explain the often explosive growth of sporadic neutral Ca layers.

The Arctic polar vortex exhibited widespread regions of low temperatures during the winter of 2005, resulting in significant ozone depletion by chlorine and bromine species. We show that chemical loss of column ozone (ΔO3) and the volume of Arctic vortex air cold enough to support the existence of polar stratospheric clouds (VPSC) both exceed levels found for any other Arctic winter during the past 40 years. Cold conditions and ozone loss in the lowermost Arctic stratosphere (e.g., between potential temperatures of 360 to 400 K) were particularly unusual compared to previous years. Measurements indicate ΔO3 = 121 ± 20 DU and that ΔO3 versus VPSC lies along an extension of the compact, near linear relation observed for previous Arctic winters. The maximum value of VPSC during five to ten year intervals exhibits a steady, monotonic increase over the past four decades, indicating that the coldest Arctic winters have become significantly colder, and hence are more conducive to ozone depletion by anthropogenic halogens. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

For the first time, three different temperature lidar methods are combined to obtain time-resolved complete temperature profiles with high altitude resolution over an altitude range from the planetary boundary layer up to the lower thermosphere (about 1–105 km). The Leibniz-Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at Kühlungsborn, Germany (54° N, 12° E) operates two lidar instruments, using three different temperature measurement methods, optimized for three altitude ranges: (1) Probing the spectral Doppler broadening of the potassium D1 resonance lines with a tunable narrow-band laser emitter allows the determination of atmospheric temperature profiles at the metal layer altitudes (80–105 km). (2) Between about 20 and 90 km, temperatures were calculated from Rayleigh backscattering on air molecules, where the upper start values for the calculation algorithm were taken from the potassium lidar results. Correction methods have been applied to account for, e.g. Rayleigh extinction or Mie scattering of aerosols below about 32 km. (3) At altitudes below about 25 km, backscattering on the Rotational Raman lines is strong enough to obtain temperatures by measuring the temperature dependent spectral shape of the Rotational Raman spectrum. This method works well down to about 1 km. The instrumental configuration of the IAP lidars was optimized for a 3–6 km overlap of the temperature profiles at the method transition altitudes. First night-long measurements show clear wave structures propagating from the lower stratosphere up to the lower thermosphere in most of the nights.

To improve our understanding of wintertime polar ozone losses, two ozonesonde Match campaigns were performed. The first one was carried out in the Arctic winter 2002/03. About 450 co-ordinated ozonesondes were launched from late November 2002 to March 2003. Temperatures low enough for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) occurred already in the second half of November. At 475 K the Match analysis shows increasing ozone loss rates from early December until the second half of January with peaking loss rates of 35 ppbv/day. Afterwards the rate of ozone loss decreased and stopped after a month. Throughout the whole winter we find accumulated ozone loss of about 1.5 ppmv at the 500 K isentrope and approximately 60 DU in the total ozone column, which is about half of the maximum loss found in past winters. From June to October 2003 an Antarctic Match campaign was carried out for the first time. About 400 sondes were launched by 9 stations. Ozone loss rates of up to 75 ppbv/day were found inside the polar vortex at the 475 K potential temperature level during the first half of September. The timing of the fastest ozone loss coincides with the return of sunlight to the vortex after the Antarctic winter. During the whole time period temperatures were low enough for PSCs, including ice clouds, to form. Results for the potential temperature range between 400 K and 550 K will be presented.