Structure and variability of the tropopause obtained from CHAMP radio occultation temperature profiles

Abstract

The global structure and variability of the tropopause observed using CHAMP/GPS radio occultation observations from May 2001 through September 2003 are presented. Tropopause temperature and height observed by CHAMP/GPS has been compared with radiosonde observations at a sub-tropical site. At polar latitudes, the tropopause sharpness found to be highest in summer and lowest in winter with slight differences between hemispheres. © 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.