MARCH 2017 L I E T A L . 555 Data Analysis of Upper Atmosphere Temperature Detected by Sounding Rockets in China J. W. LI College of Meteorology and Oceanology, People’s Liberation Army University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China Z. SHENG College of Meteorology and Oceanology, People’s Liberation Army University of Science and Technology, and Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China Z. Q. FAN College of Meteorology and Oceanology, People’s Liberation Army University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China S. D. ZHOU AND W. L. SHI College of Meteorology and Oceanology, People’s Liberation Army University of Science and Technology, and Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China (Manuscript received 13 May 2016, in final form 26 November 2016) ABSTRACT Sounding rockets launched by China have collected data on the upper atmosphere for nearly 50 years. In this work, the data accuracy and variable characteristics of upper atmosphere temperature data, gathered at heights of 20–60 km over Jiuquan, China, during 1974–2014, were analyzed. The relative accuracy of sounding rocket temperature data was determined by comparing the data with Mass Spectrometer and Incoherent Scatter (MSIS) model data by season, and with Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) from the Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite by year. The sounding rocket temperature data showed differences from MSIS in every season, with the minimum difference occurring in summer, the next smallest difference in winter, and the maximum difference occurring in autumn. The sounding rocket data showed smaller differences from the SABER data, although the deviation still fluctuated depending on the date and hour of the observations. In addition, the temperature distributions of the temperature profiles were examined at different times at the same heights. By linearly fitting the mean temperature profiles of each season, the statistical characteristics of the tem- perature changes with height were explored. 1. Introduction spacecraft orbit injection. As an important part of the fifth-dimension battlefield (land, sea, air, space, electro- The near space is the region of Earth’s atmosphere at magnetism space), near space is an important link in our heights of about 20–100 km, and it includes the strato- national security system. Emerging near-space aircraft, sphere (15–50 km), the mesosphere (50–85 km), and a such as stratospheric airships, have unique advantages small part of the thermosphere (85–100 km). The region in gathering intelligence, surveillance, scouting, com- is expected to accommodate the expansion and exten- munications relay, navigation, and electronic warfare. sion of conventional flight airspace and the channel for At present, many countries are developing military and civil applications of near space. In particular, because air- Corresponding author e-mail: Z. Sheng, [email protected] craft, airships, and aerostats are active in the stratosphere DOI: 10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0104.1 Ó 2017 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses). Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/29/21 05:54 AM UTC 556 JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 34 and the substratum of the middle atmosphere, these the temperature measurement range is 2808 to 1808C. regions are strategically important (e.g., Li et al. 2008; The precision of the temperature measurements is about Ouyang and Chen 2012; Che et al. 2010). 1.58C below 50 km and 3.08C between 50 and 60 km (e.g., Currently, research on the near-space atmosphere is Jiang et al. 2009; Liu and Jiang 2012). The temperature limited by the completeness and accuracy of atmo- profiles, which are detected by sounding rockets and spheric observations, restricting the development of have the vertical resolution of 0.5 km, are processed data near-space applications in some countries (e.g., Lu et al. from the test site. Even though there have been more 2009). Methods for detecting near-space environmental than 60 timed flights of sounding rocket in the past 50 parameters include sounding balloons, sounding rockets, years, but not all of the profiles meet the requirement of radio radar, laser radar, and satellite remote sensing. completeness across the primary altitude range of 20– However, sounding rockets are the only in situ method 60 km, because quite a few profiles have the problem of for measuring the near-space atmosphere (e.g., Jiang data missing in a certain height range. There also are et al. 2009). China launched its first sounding rocket almost some flights of sounding rocket that miss the tempera- 50 years ago, which was mainly used for meteorological ture profiles but other parameters, such density profiles sounding (Liu and Jiang 2012). In recent years, in addi- and wind profiles, are obtained. Therefore, to ensure the tion to the Meridian Space Weather Monitoring Project, efficiency of the conclusions, we selected about 25 a sounding rocket observation system has been used to measurements for the analysis. The dates of the rocket gather general environmental data about space below a experiments we selected are presented in Table 1. height of 200 km. The temperature data gathered by sounding rockets Analyzing sounding rocket data is important for sci- over the last 50 years, which mainly consist of data col- entific investigation of the near-space atmosphere and lected over Jiuquan (41.18N, 100.28E), China, during for improving space temperature detection techniques 1974–2014, were used. Therefore, the conclusions apply (e.g., Lu and Yao 1974; Fan et al. 2013). Jiang et al. only to the middle and upper atmosphere over Jiuquan. (2011) analyzed observations of the first meteorological b. MSIS empirical prediction model temperature data rocket launched in the Meridian Space Weather Moni- toring Project. Fan et al. (2014) evaluated sounding A middle atmosphere model was developed by com- rocket data accuracy based on sounding rocket de- bining the middle atmosphere sounding data with gov- tection data from China. Their results were based on erning equations for the physical changes in the several sounding rocket experiments, and they exam- atmosphere (Shen 1990). The Mass Spectrometer and ined environmental parameters such as temperature, Incoherent Scatter (MSIS) model is an empirical model density, and pressure. Many years of sounding rocket of the upper atmosphere that provides empirical data for data should be used to analyze the general statistical atmospheric parameters, such as temperature and den- characteristics of temperature. Therefore, this paper sity, and for major atmospheric components, such as analyzes sounding rocket temperature data from China oxygen and nitrogen. MSIS-86, which is an international in terms of their temperature distributions and their reference atmosphere model, is identical to the Com- variations in the near-space atmosphere. mittee on Space Research (COSPAR) International Reference Atmosphere (CIRA) 1986 (CIRA-86) model, which provides a quantitative description of the effects of 2. Data presentation time, longitude and latitude, seasonal variation, annual variation, diurnal variation, geomagnetic disturbance, a. Near-space sounding rocket temperature data and solar activity (e.g., Batten et al. 1987; Hedin 1991; A sounding rocket for near-space atmospheric de- Picone et al. 2002). The more recent version of the MSIS tection has the unique advantage that its flying height is series is MSIS 2000 (MSIS00), which is particularly suit- between that of sounding balloons and satellites, so it able for the layer between the ground and the upper at- can provide in situ measurements of near space. The mosphere. By setting homologous parameters, such as sounding rocket launches and flies to its pathway vertex latitude, longitude, time, and geomagnetic activity index, (generally at 60 km), and then deploys its radiosonde empirical temperature data were obtained from MSIS00 system, which descends gradually via a parachute. As and compared with the sounding rocket data. the radiosonde descends, a temperature sensor mea- c. TIMED/SABER satellite limb sounding sures the air temperature and transmits it to a ground temperature data radar receiver in real time, where a data processing system handles the air temperature data. The detection The Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Ener- height of the sounding rocket is generally 20–60 km, and getics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite was developed Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/29/21 05:54 AM UTC MARCH 2017 L I E T A L . 557 TABLE 1. Dates of rocket experiments from which we selected deviation, S is the standard deviation, and r is the cor- measurements. relation coefficient: Year Date Year Date 5 2 5 ... Ei Ti T0i, i 1, 2, 3, , N. (1) 1967 30 May 1998 15 Aug 5 5 Jun 20 Aug Emax max(Ei). (2) 1979 16 Dec 1999 26 Apr 1 N 24 Dec 2000 31 Oct 5 å j 2 j E Ti T0i . (3) 1981 7 Jul 2004 8 Nov N 5 vi ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi1 8 Jul 15 Nov u uN 10 Jul 16 Nov uå 2 2 11 Jul 17 Nov t (Ti T0i) i51 19 Nov S 5 . (4) 1985 12 Jul 2014 2 Jan N 15 Jul 3 Jan N N N å 2 å 3 å 1988 19 Dec 9 Jan N TiT0i Ti T0i 5 vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffii51 i51vffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffii51 16 Mar r u ! u ! . 7 Aug u 2 u 2 t N N t N N å 2 2 å 3 å 2 2 å N Ti Ti N T0i T0i i51 i51 i51 i51 by NASA and launched on 7 December 2001 (e.g., Russell (5) et al. 1999). Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broad- band Emission Radiometry (SABER) is a 10-channel b. Comparison of sounding rocket and MSIS infrared radiometer on the TIMED satellite for measur- temperature data ing Earth’s limb thermal radiation, and its wave band is between 1.27 and 17 mm(e.g.,Mertens et al.