Stratospheric temperature trends over 1979-2015 derived from combined SSU, MLS, and SABER satellite observations

Pinatubo (1991), focused in the tropics in the lower stratosphere and in high latitudes in the middle and upper stratosphere. Solar cycle variations are centered in the tropics, increasing in amplitude from the lower to the upper stratosphere. Linear trends over 1979-2015 show that cooling increases with altitude from the lower stratosphere (from ~-0.1 to -0.2 K decade-1) to the middle and upper stratosphere (from ~-0.5 to -0.6 K decade-1).

Cooling in the middle and upper stratosphere is relatively uniform in latitudes north of about 30°S, but trends decrease to near zero over the Antarctic. Mid- and upper-stratospheric temperatures show larger cooling over the first half of the data record (1979-97) compared to the second half (1998-2015), reflecting differences in upper-stratospheric ozone trends between these periods.