TEMPERATURES AND PRESSURES IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE 
Weekes and Wilkes have analyzed sound data obtained 
from more accurate controlled experiments carried out 
by the British Meteorological Office. They found that 
30) — 
ALTITUDE (KM) 
~ 
3223) 
2A3 273 29 323 
TEMPERATURE (°K) 
Fre. 3—Temperatures derived from velocity of sound 
waves in Southern California, with results for Northern 
Germany plotted for comparison (taken from [8, p. 200]). 
at night ‘the temperature starts to rise at about 35 km 
and rises at a rate of about 5C km~ to at least 50 km, 
at which height the temperature lies between 290 and 
350K, with the lower value more likely.” [18, p. 87]. 
180 
MEASURED 
ASSUMED 
CALCULATED 
NACA 
AVERAGE ROCKET 
CURVE 
160 
140 
120 
ST a ay 
we 
100 
Ww 
a 
=) 
Lo PROBABLE 
E so; < MAXIMUM 
= cs 
a 
a 
60 
40 
20 
“240 280 
320 
TEMPERATURE (°K) 
360 400 
Fic. 4.—Comparison of measured upper-atmosphere temp- 
eratures (Helgoland blast), V-2 rocket results, and N.A.C.A. 
tentative standards (taken from [5] Cox: Amer. J. Phys., 16: 
473 (1948), by permission of the publishers). Rough rocket 
data appearing on Cox’s published figure have been replaced 
y an average curve of temperatures calculated from Naval 
Research Laboratory rocket flights. 
305 
The lower values are more in keeping with Cox’s results 
and those obtained from rockets. 
Ozone Heating in the Upper Atmosphere 
The high-temperature region deduced from sound- 
propagation experiments coimeides with the upper por- 
tion of the ozonosphere, which lies between 15 and 55 
km. The total amount of ozone in the atmosphere is at 
most a few millimeters at standard conditions. Never- 
theless ozone absorption in the ultraviolet is strong, and 
the ozone content appears to be sufficient to account 
for observed atmospheric heating immediately above 
the stratosphere. 
Gowan [7] and Penndorf [15] have made extensive 
calculations to show how much heating can be expected 
from atmospheric ozone. Gowan assumes the ozono- 
sphere to be essentially nonconvective and in radiative 
60 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY (%) 40 10 o 
TS 
[e) 
ALTITUDE (KM) 
200 
300 400 
TEMPERATURE (°K) 
Fie. 5.—Atmospheric temperatures based on calculations 
of ultraviolet absorption in the ozonosphere (taken from 
[7] Gowan: Proc. roy. Soc., (A) 190: 228 (1947), by permission 
of The Royal Society). 
500 
equilibrium. The validity of these assumptions, how- 
ever, is open to question. Water vapor, ozone, and 
carbon dioxide are taken to be the principal gases in- 
volved, and the calculations are made for a number of 
different humidities. The assumed solar temperature is 
6000K. Ozone content is taken from experiments of 
Gétz, Meetham, and Dobson and applies to the atmos- 
phere above Switzerland. A temperature-distribution 
curve is obtained by dividing the ozonosphere into nine 
layers and calculating the equilibrium temperatures for 
the various layers. Some of the results are set forth in 
Fig. 5. It will be noted that the temperature begins to 
