The decrease in temperature coupled with the low density of the air in the mesosphere (about 1 gm-3; at the stratopause, or a thousandth of the density at sea-level, to 100 times less at the mesopause) means that the mesosphere includes both turbulence and atmospheric waves which have a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Such motions are important not only because of the mixing of chemicals that occur as a result, but also because the mesosphere is the region of the atmosphere where spacecraft on re-entry start to feel the background wind structure, rather than just aerodynamic drag. Some of the small-scale waves drive an average seasonal flow upwards from the lower summer polar mesosphere across the equator and down deep into the winter polar stratosphere.
I am having a hard time comprehending it, thank you!
http://library.thinkquest.org/21418/spacee/Mesos.htm
2006-10-29
16:03:04
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