Climatology of the upper mesosphere temperature above South Pole (90°S): Mesospheric cooling during 2002

Polar mesospheric temperature measurements obtained above South Pole from 1991 through 2002 are shown, and their long‐term behavior ‐climatology‐ has been deduced. The variation of this temperature during the polar night shows an annual amplitude of 14 K about the mean yearly value. A strong and highly significant correlation is found between the mean yearly temperature and the solar activity ‐expressed as the F10.7 flux‐, giving a 13 K change per 100 unit F10.7 change. The mean measured 2002 polar night temperatures are about 35 K cooler than the mean for the previous 11 years and well outside their excursions about this mean. This observed mesospheric cooling is in keeping with the disturbed lower atmosphere reported for this period. Other effects from the latter include both a smaller austral ozone depletion hole than has been recorded in previous years and higher than average minimum temperatures in the south polar region. The observed mesospheric cooling resembles the cooling observed at Northern midlatitudes during stratospheric warmings.