Observed Temperature Changes in the Troposphere and Stratosphere from 1979 to 
2018

Steiner, A. K.; Ladstädter, F.; Randel, W. J.; Maycock, A. C.; Fu, Q.; Claud, C.; Gleisner, H.; Haimberger, L.; Ho, S.-P.; Keckhut, P.; Leblanc, T.; Mears, C.; Polvani, L. M.; Santer, B. D.; Schmidt, T.; Sofieva, V.; Wing, R.; Zou, C.-Z.

doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0998.1

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Observed Temperature Changes in the Troposphere and Stratosphere from 1979 to 2018

Authors

Steiner, A. K.
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Ladstädter, F.
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Randel, W. J.
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Maycock, A. C.
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Fu, Q.
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Claud, C.
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Gleisner, H.
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Haimberger, L.
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Ho, S.-P.
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Keckhut, P.
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Leblanc, T.
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Mears, C.
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Polvani, L. M.
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Santer, B. D.
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/persons/resource/tschmidt

Schmidt, T.
1.1 Space Geodetic Techniques, 1.0 Geodesy, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Sofieva, V.
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Wing, R.
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Zou, C.-Z.
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5004443.pdf
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Citation

Steiner, A. K., Ladstädter, F., Randel, W. J., Maycock, A. C., Fu, Q., Claud, C., Gleisner, H., Haimberger, L., Ho, S.-P., Keckhut, P., Leblanc, T., Mears, C., Polvani, L. M., Santer, B. D., Schmidt, T., Sofieva, V., Wing, R., Zou, C.-Z. (2020): Observed Temperature Changes in the Troposphere and Stratosphere from 1979 to 2018. - Journal of Climate, 33, 19, 8165-8194.
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0998.1

Cite as: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5004443

Abstract

Temperature observations of the upper-air atmosphere are now available for more than 40 years from bothground- and satellite-based observing systems. Recent years have seen substantial improvements in reducinglong-standing discrepancies among datasets through major reprocessing efforts. The advent of radio occultation(RO) observations in 2001 has led to further improvements in vertically resolved temperature measurements,enabling a detailed analysis of upper-troposphere/lower-stratosphere trends. This paper presents the currentstate of atmospheric temperature trends from the latest available observational records. We analyze observa-tions from merged operational satellite measurements, radiosondes, lidars, and RO, spanning a vertical rangefrom the lower troposphere to the upper stratosphere. The focus is on assessing climate trends and on identifyingthe degree of consistency among the observational systems. The results show a robust cooling of the stratosphereof about 1–3 K, and a robust warming of the troposphere of about 0.6–0.8 K over the last four decades (1979–2018). Consistent results are found between the satellite-based layer-average temperatures and verticallyresolved radiosonde records. The overall latitude–altitude trend patterns are consistent between RO and ra-diosonde records. Significant warming of the troposphere is evident in the RO measurements available after2001, with trends of 0.25–0.35 K per decade. Amplified warming in the tropical upper-troposphere compared tosurface trends for 2002–18 is found based on RO and radiosonde records, in approximate agreement with moistadiabatic lapse rate theory. The consistency of trend results from the latest upper-air datasets will help to im-prove understanding of climate changes and their drivers.