Abstract: The temperature inversion (TI) and specific humidity inversion (SHI) are common over the Southern Ocean, and their distribution and variation have important effects on the exchange of matter and flux between ocean, ice and air. In this study, the TI and SHI characteristics of the Southern Ocean were extracted from data obtained by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the Aqua satellite, and the characteristics of their temporal and spatial distributions and variations were studied. In addition, using the sounding results of the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive 2 as reference values, the effects of cloud in the AIRS TI and SHI estimates were analyzed. The results show that the characteristics of the TI from AIRS data are less affected by clouds, and AIRS can accurately estimate the characteristics of TI under cloudy conditions. The frequency and strength of the TI and SHI over the Southern Ocean from 2004 to 2020 were studied using the latest version of AIRS data (V7). It is found that TI and SHI are higher and stronger in autumn and winter than in spring and summer, and are more frequent and stronger in the Ronne Ice Shelf, Ross Ice Shelf, and the sea area near the Antarctic Peninsula than in other regions.

Key words: temperature inversions, specific humidity inversions, Southern Ocean, Aqua satellite, AIRS