Trends in the mesopause region temperature and our present understanding-an update

Abstract

A comprehensive review of the long-term changes and trends in the thermal structure of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region has been provided by Beig et al. [Beig, G., Keckhut, P., Lowe, R.P., Roble, R.G., Mlynczak, M.G., Scheer, J., Fomichev, V.I., Offermann, D., French, W.J.R., Shepherd, M.G., Semenov, A.I., Remsberg, E.E., She, C.Y., Lubken, F.J., Bremer, J., Clemesha, B.R., Stegman, J., Sigernes, F., Fadnavis, S., 2003. Review of mesospheric temperature trends. Rev. Geophys. 41 (4), 1015, doi: 10.1029/2002RG000121] in which results and analysis reported until about early 2002 were included. Since then not much new information on the temperature trends has been added. Nevertheless, some new results along with some modified results by revisiting the older data sets have been reported in recent time. Our understanding on the nature of temperature trends in the MLT region is relatively better understood now and model agreements with some of the specific observed feature are better reproduced in recent time. This paper briefly summarizes the progress made over the recent past in the field of mesopause region temperature trends and provide an update to Beig et al. (2003). Some new information is also added in recent time on the seasonal trend variability in temperature of the mesopause region which is also discussed in this article. Finally the new insight into the probable mechanisms to understand the observed trends along with future scope of the work in this field is outlined.