Intraseasonal temperature variability in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere from the GPS radio occultation measurements

In this study, we examine the detailed spatiotemporal patterns and vertical structure of the intraseasonal temperature variability in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) using the temperature profiles from the recent Global Positioning System radio occultation (GPS RO) measurements including the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) mission. The MJO-related temperature anomalies in the UTLS are smaller near the equator (<0.6 K) than over the subtropics and extratropics (>1.2 K). Near the equator, the temperature anomalies exhibit an eastward tilt with height from the upper troposphere (UT) to the lower stratosphere (LS) and their magnitudes and signs are determined by the strength of convective anomalies and vertical pressure level. The subtropical temperature anomalies have similar magnitudes and patterns at a given location between the UT (250 hPa to 150 hPa) and the LS (150 hPa to 50 hPa) except for opposite signs that change around 150 hPa. The subtropical warm (cold) anomalies in the UT and cold (warm) anomalies in the LS are typically collocated with the subtropical positive (negative) tropopause height anomalies/cyclones (anticyclones) and flank or lie to the west of equatorial enhanced (suppressed) convection. We also compare the intraseasonal temperature variability in the UTLS related to the MJO between the GPS RO and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) measurements to highlight the new features of the GPS RO temperature anomalies and to evaluate the quality of the AIRS temperature in the UTLS considering the GPS RO temperature in the UTLS as the benchmark. Both AIRS and GPS RO have a very consistent vertical structure in the subtropical UTLS with a high correlation coefficient 0.92 and similar magnitudes. Both AIRS and GPS RO also show a generally consistent vertical structure of the intraseasonal temperature anomalies in the equatorial UTLS. However, GPS RO reveals many detailed fine-scale vertical structures of the equatorial temperature anomalies between 150 and 50 hPa that are not well captured by AIRS. Furthermore, the equatorial temperature anomalies are about 40% underestimated in AIRS in comparison to GPS RO, over the equatorial Indian and western Pacific Oceans for 250 hPa and over all longitudes for 100 hPa. The low sampling within the optically thick clouds and low vertical resolution near the tropopause may both contribute to these deficiencies of AIRS.