Possible seasonal variability of mesospheric water vapor

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Abstract
We have made ground‐based spectral line measurements of the 22.2 GHz water vapor line in atmospheric emission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which have been used to deduce the mesospheric water vapor profile. The measurements were made nearly continuously in the spring and early summer of 1984. The results indicate a temporal increase in the water vapor mixing ratio in the upper mesosphere from April through June. At 75 km, this increase is nearly a factor of 2. Comparison of the present results with the results of a similar series of measurements made at the Haystack (radio astronomy) Observatory indicate that this temporal increase is part of a seasonal variation.