Search

The South-East Asian boundary layer has witnessed alarming pollution levels in recent years, which even affects the trace gas composition in the southern hemisphere by inter-hemispheric transport. We use SF6 observations and the Lagrangian chemistry transport model CLaMS, driven by the ERA5 reanalysis data for the period 2010–2014, to assess the impact of the Asian monsoon (AM) region [15° N, 45° N, 30° E, 120° E] as a significant source of pollutants for the stratosphere, in particular in polar regions. We examine the contribution of transport from the AM region to the Northern Hemisphere polar region (NP) [60° N, 90° N] and to the Southern Hemisphere polar region (SP) [60° S, 90° S]. Despite the smaller geographical size of the AM region when compared to the Southern Hemisphere subtropics [15° S, 45° S] and tropics [15° S, 15° N], our findings reveal that the air mass fractions from the AM to the polar regions are approximately 1.5 times larger than the corresponding contributions from the Southern Hemisphere subtropics and roughly two times smaller than those from the tropics. The transport of air masses from the AM boundary layer to the stratospheric polar vortex primarily occurs above an altitude of about 450 K and over timescales exceeding 2 years. In contrast, transport timescales to the polar regions situated below the vortex are shorter, typically less than about 2 years. Furthermore, the transport contribution from the AM region to the polar regions exhibits distinctive inter-annual variability, significantly influencing the distributions of pollutants. Our analysis of detrended SF6 from ACE-FTS over the polar regions reveals a strong correlation with the fraction of relatively young air (less than two years old) originating from the AM, Southern Hemisphere subtropics, and tropics. Importantly, our reconstructed SF6 data indicates that approximately 20 % of SF6 in both the northern and southern polar stratosphere originates from the AM boundary layer. The largest fraction of SF6 in the polar stratosphere still originates from the tropical boundary layer, contributing about 50 % of SF6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-hemispheric transport may strongly affect the trace gas composition of the atmosphere, especially in relation to anthropogenic emissions, which originate mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. This study investigates the transport from the boundary surface layer of the northern hemispheric (NH) extratropics (30–90 ∘ N), southern hemispheric (SH) extratropics (30–90 ∘ S), and tropics (30 ∘ S–30 ∘ N) into the global upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) using simulations with the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS). In particular, we diagnose inter-hemispheric transport in terms of the air mass fractions (AMFs), age spectra, and the mean age of air (AoA) calculated for these three source regions. We find that the AMFs from the NH extratropics to the UTLS are about 5 times larger than the corresponding contributions from the SH extratropics and almost 20 times smaller than those from the tropics. The amplitude of the AMF seasonal variability originating from the NH extratropics is comparable to that from the tropics. The NH and SH extratropical age spectra show much stronger seasonality compared to the seasonality of the tropical age spectra. The transit time of NH-extratropical-origin air to the SH extratropics is longer than vice versa. The asymmetry of the inter-hemispheric transport is mainly driven by the Asian summer monsoon (ASM). We confirm the important role of ASM and westerly ducts in the inter-hemispheric transport from the NH extratropics to the SH. Furthermore, we find that it is an interplay between the ASM and westerly ducts which triggers such cross-Equator transport from boreal summer to fall in the UTLS between 350 and 370 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year during the Asian summer monsoon season from about mid-June to early September, a stable anticyclonic circulation system forms over the Himalayas. This Asian summer monsoon (ASM) anticyclone has been shown to promote transport of air into the stratosphere from the Asian troposphere, which contains large amounts of anthropogenic pollutants. Essential details of Asian monsoon transport, such as the exact timescales of vertical transport, the role of convection in cross-tropopause exchange, and the main location and level of export from the confined anticyclone to the stratosphere are still not fully resolved. Recent airborne observations from campaigns near the ASM anticyclone edge and centre in 2016 and 2017, respectively, show a steady decrease in carbon monoxide (CO) and increase in ozone (O 3) with height starting from tropospheric values of around 100 ppb CO and 30–50 ppb O 3 at about 365 K potential temperature. CO mixing ratios reach stratospheric background values below ∼25 ppb at about 420 K and do not show a significant vertical gradient at higher levels, while ozone continues to increase throughout the altitude range of the aircraft measurements. Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) remains at or only marginally below its 2017 tropospheric mixing ratio of 333 ppb up to about 400 K, which is above the local tropopause. A decline in N 2 O mixing ratios that indicates a significant contribution of stratospheric air is only visible above this level. Based on our observations, we draw the following picture of vertical transport and confinement in the ASM anticyclone: rapid convective uplift transports air to near 16 km in altitude, corresponding to potential temperatures up to about 370 K. Although this main convective outflow layer extends above the level of zero radiative heating (LZRH), our observations of CO concentration show little to no evidence of convection actually penetrating the tropopause. Rather, further ascent occurs more slowly, consistent with isentropic vertical velocities of 0.7–1.5 K d -1. For the key tracers (CO, O 3 , and N 2 O) in our study, none of which are subject to microphysical processes, neither the lapse rate tropopause (LRT) around 380 K nor the cold point tropopause (CPT) around 390 K marks a strong discontinuity in their profiles. Up to about 20 to 35 K above the LRT, isolation of air inside the ASM anticyclone prevents significant in-mixing of stratospheric air (throughout this text, the term in-mixing refers specifically to mixing processes that introduce stratospheric air into the predominantly tropospheric inner anticyclone). The observed changes in CO and O 3 likely result from in situ chemical processing. Above about 420 K, mixing processes become more significant and the air inside the anticyclone is exported vertically and horizontally into the surrounding stratosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inaccurate representation of mixing in chemistry transport models, mainly suffering from an excessive numerical diffusion, strongly influences the quantitative estimates of the stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE). The Lagrangian view of transport offers an alternative to exploit the numerical diffusion for parametrization of the physical mixing. Here, we follow this concept and discuss how to extend the representation of tropospheric transport in the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS). Although the current transport scheme in CLaMS (v1.0) shows a good ability to represent transport of tracers in the stably stratified stratosphere (Pommrich et al., 2014, and the references therein), there are deficiencies in the representation of the effects of convective uplift and mixing due to weak vertical stability in the troposphere. We show how the CLaMS transport scheme was modified by including additional tropospheric mixing and vertical transport due to unresolved convective updrafts by parametrizing these processes in terms of the dry and moist Brunt–Väisälä frequencies. The regions with enhanced convective updrafts in the novel CLaMS simulation covering the 2005–2008 period coincide with regions of enhanced convection as diagnosed from the satellite observations of the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). We analyze how well this approach improves the CLaMS representation of CO2 in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, in particular the propagation of the CO2 seasonal cycle from the planetary boundary layer (PBL) into the lower stratosphere. The CO2 values in the PBL are specified by the CarbonTracker data set (version CT2013B), and the Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiner (CONTRAIL) observations are used to validate the model. The proposed extension of tropospheric transport increases the influence of the PBL in the middle and upper troposphere and at the same time impacts the STE. The effect on mean age away from the troposphere in the deep stratosphere is weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accelerating Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC) is a robust signal of climate change in model predictions but has been questioned by trace gas observations. We analyse the stratospheric mean age of air and the full age spectrum as measures for the BDC and its trend. Age of air is calculated using the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) driven by ERA-Interim, JRA-55 and MERRA-2 reanalysis data to assess the robustness of the representation of the BDC in current generation meteorological reanalyses. We find that the climatological mean age significantly depends on the reanalysis, with JRA-55 showing the youngest and MERRA-2 the oldest mean age. Consideration of the age spectrum indicates that the older air for MERRA-2 is related to a stronger spectrum tail, which is likely associated with weaker tropical upwelling and stronger recirculation. Seasonality of stratospheric transport is robustly represented in reanalyses, with similar mean age variations and age spectrum peaks. Long-term changes from 1989 to 2015 turn out to be similar for the reanalyses with mainly decreasing mean age accompanied by a shift of the age spectrum peak towards shorter transit times, resembling the forced response in climate model simulations to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. For the shorter periods, 1989–2001 and 2002–2015, the age of air changes are less robust. Only ERA-Interim shows the hemispheric dipole pattern in age changes from 2002 to 2015 as viewed by recent satellite observations. Consequently, the representation of decadal variability of the BDC in current generation reanalyses appears less robust and is a major uncertainty of modelling the BDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stratospheric Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC) determines the transport and atmospheric lifetime of key radiatively active trace gases and further impacts surface climate through downward coupling. Here, we quantify the variability in the lower stratospheric BDC induced by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), using satellite trace gas measurements and simulations with the Lagrangian chemistry transport model, CLaMS, driven by ERA-Interim and JRA-55 reanalyses. We show that despite discrepancies in the deseasonalized ozone (O3) mixing ratios between CLaMS simulations and satellite observations, the patterns of changes in the lower stratospheric O3 anomalies induced by ENSO agree remarkably well over the 2005–2016 period. Particularly during the most recent El Niño in 2015–2016, both satellite observations and CLaMS simulations show the largest negative tropical O3 anomaly in the record. Regression analysis of different metrics of the BDC strength, including mean age of air, vertical velocity, residual circulation, and age spectrum, shows clear evidence of structural changes in the BDC in the lower stratosphere induced by El Niño, consistent with observed O3 anomalies. These structural changes during El Niño include a weakening of the transition branch of the BDC between about 370 and 420 K (∼100 –70 hPa) and equatorward of about 60 ∘ and a strengthening of the shallow branch at the same latitudes and between about 420 and 500 K (∼70 –30 hPa). The slowdown of the transition branch is due to an upward shift in the dissipation height of the large-scale and gravity waves, while the strengthening of the shallow branch results mainly from enhanced gravity wave breaking in the tropics–subtropics combined with enhanced planetary wave breaking at high latitudes. The strengthening of the shallow branch induces negative tropical O3 anomalies due to enhanced tropical upwelling, while the weakening of the transition branch combined with enhanced downwelling due to the strengthening shallow branch leads to positive O3 anomalies in the extratropical upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS). Our results suggest that a shift in the ENSO basic state toward more frequent El Niño-like conditions in a warmer future climate will substantially alter UTLS trace gas distributions due to these changes in the vertical structure of the stratospheric circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stratospheric circulation determines the transport and lifetime of key trace gases in achanging climate, including water vapor and ozone, which radiatively impact surface climate.The unusually warm El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event aligned with adisrupted Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) caused an unprecedented perturbationto this circulation in 2015–2016. Here, we quantify the impact of the alignmentof these two phenomena in 2015–2016 on lower stratospheric water vapor andozone from satellite observations. We show that the warm ENSO event substantiallyincreased water vapor and decreased ozone in the tropical lower stratosphere. TheQBO disruption significantly decreased global lower stratospheric water vaporand tropical ozone from early spring to late autumn. Thus, this QBO disruptionreversed the lower stratosphere moistening triggered by the alignment of the warmENSO event with westerly QBO in early boreal winter. Our results suggest that theinterplay of ENSO events and QBO phases will be crucial for the distributionsof radiatively active trace gases in a changing future climate, when increasing ElNiño-like conditions and a decreasing lower stratospheric QBO amplitude are expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]