Inorganic and organic bromine measurements around the extra-tropical tropopause: Insights into total stratospheric bromine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Rotermund ◽  
Ben Schreiner ◽  
Flora Kluge ◽  
Tilman Hüneke ◽  
Andreas Engel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Lagrangian Model ◽  
Optical Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Extratropical Tropopause ◽  
The Tropics

<p>Bromine greatly influences the UT/LS ozone concentrations, however the transport of bromine across the tropical tropopause layer and in particular across the extratropical tropopause is not well quantified. Air-borne measurements of atmospheric trace gases such as organic and inorganic bromine along the tropopause are studied during the WISE (Wave-driven ISentropic Exchange) research campaign over the northern Atlantic and western Europe from September 13 - October 21, 2017. The remote sensing instrument mini-DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) is mounted on the HALO (High Altitude and LOng range) aircraft and measures BrO (O<sub>3</sub>, NO<sub>2</sub> among other trace gases). The novel scaling method is applied to infer the target gas BrO mixing ratios from slant column densities using in-situ O<sub>3</sub> measurements from the FAIRO instrument (operated by KIT) as the scaling gas. For each flight, the inferred mixing ratios are directly compared with CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere) simulated curtains of the trace gases along the flight path. The partitioning coefficient of inorganic bromine from CLaMS and all relevant organic halogen species and air mass ages (SF<sub>6</sub>, CO<sub>2</sub>) from the GhOST-MS instrument (operated by UFra) are used to determine the total bromine budget along the UT/LS. A climatology of organic, inorganic and total bromine is constructed with respect to the extratropical tropopause as well as the air mass ages. This indicates the interplay of bromine transport across the extratropical tropopause and of the transport of air via the lower branch from the tropics as well as potential losses of inorganic bromine by uptake onto and sedimentation of ice particles.</p>

scholarly journals Tracer measurements in the tropical tropopause layer during the AMMA/SCOUT-O3 aircraft campaign

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 3615-3627 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Homan ◽  
C. M. Volk ◽  
A. C. Kuhn ◽  
A. Werner ◽  
J. Baehr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Multidisciplinary Analysis ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. We present airborne in situ measurements made during the AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis)/SCOUT-O3 campaign between 31 July and 17 August 2006 on board the M55 Geophysica aircraft, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. CO2 and N2O were measured with the High Altitude Gas Analyzer (HAGAR), CO was measured with the Cryogenically Operated Laser Diode (COLD) instrument, and O3 with the Fast Ozone ANalyzer (FOZAN). We analyse the data obtained during five local flights to study the dominant transport processes controlling the tropical tropopause layer (TTL, here ~350–375 K) and lower stratosphere above West-Africa: deep convection up to the level of main convective outflow, overshooting of deep convection, and horizontal inmixing across the subtropical tropopause. Besides, we examine the morphology of the stratospheric subtropical barrier. Except for the flight of 13 August, distinct minima in CO2 mixing ratios indicate convective outflow of boundary layer air in the TTL. The CO2 profiles show that the level of main convective outflow was mostly located at potential temperatures between 350 and 360 K, and for 11 August reached up to 370 K. While the CO2 minima indicate quite significant convective influence, the O3 profiles suggest that the observed convective signatures were mostly not fresh, but of older origin (several days or more). When compared with the mean O3 profile measured during a previous campaign over Darwin in November 2005, the O3 minimum at the main convective outflow level was less pronounced over Ouagadougou. Furthermore O3 mixing ratios were much higher throughout the whole TTL and, unlike over Darwin, rarely showed low values observed in the regional boundary layer. Signatures of irreversible mixing following overshooting of convective air were scarce in the tracer data. Some small signatures indicative of this process were found in CO2 profiles between 390 and 410 K during the flights of 4 and 8 August, and in CO data at 410 K on 7 August. However, the absence of expected corresponding signatures in other tracer data makes this evidence inconclusive, and overall there is little indication from the observations that overshooting convection has a profound impact on gas-phase tracer TTL composition during AMMA. We find the amount of photochemically aged air isentropically mixed into the TTL across the subtropical tropopause to be not significant. Using the N2O observations we estimate the fraction of aged extratropical stratospheric air in the TTL to be 0.0±0.1 up to 370 K during the local flights. Above the TTL this fraction increases to 0.3±0.1 at 390 K. The subtropical barrier, as indicated by the slope of the correlation between N2O and O3 between 415 and 490 K, does not appear as a sharp border between the tropics and extratropics, but rather as a gradual transition region between 10° N and 25° N where isentropic mixing between these two regions may occur.

scholarly journals Tracer measurements in the tropical tropopause layer during the AMMA/SCOUT-O3 aircraft campaign

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 25049-25084 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. D. Homan ◽  
C. M. Volk ◽  
A. C. Kuhn ◽  
A. Werner ◽  
J. Baehr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Multidisciplinary Analysis ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. We present airborne in situ measurements made during the AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis)/SCOUT-O3 campaign between 31 July and 17 August 2006 on board the M55 Geophysica aircraft, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. CO2 and N2O were measured with the High Altitude Gas Analyzer (HAGAR), CO was measured with the Cryogenically Operated Laser Diode (COLD) instrument, and O3 with the Fast Ozone ANalyzer (FOZAN). We analyze the data obtained during five local flights to study the dominant transport processes controlling the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) above West-Africa: deep convection up to the level of main convective outflow, overshooting of deep convection, horizontal inmixing across the subtropical tropopause, and horizontal transport across the subtropical barrier. Except for the flight of 13 August, distinct minima in CO2 indicate convective outflow of boundary layer air in the TTL. The CO2 profiles show that the level of main convective outflow was mostly located between 350 and 360 K, and for 11 August reached up to 370 K. While the CO2 minima indicate quite significant convective influence, the O3 profiles suggest that the observed convective signatures were mostly not fresh, but of older origin. When compared with the mean O3 profile measured during a previous campaign over Darwin in November 2005, the O3 minimum at the main convective outflow level was less pronounced over Ouagadougou. Furthermore O3 mixing ratios were much higher throughout the whole TTL and, unlike over Darwin, rarely showed low values observed in the regional boundary layer. Signatures of irreversible mixing following overshooting of convective air were scarce in the tracer data. Some small signatures indicative of this process were found in CO2 profiles between 390 and 410 K during the flights of 4 and 8 August, and in CO data at 410 K on 7 August. However, the absence of expected corresponding signatures in other tracer data makes this evidence inconclusive, and overall there is little indication from the observations that overshooting convection has a profound impact on TTL composition during AMMA. We find the amount of photochemically aged air isentropically mixed into the TTL across the subtropical tropopause to be not significant. Using the N2O observations we estimate the fraction of aged extratropical stratospheric air in the TTL to be 0.0±0.1 up to 370 K during the local flights, increasing above this level to 0.2±0.15 at 390 K. The subtropical barrier, as indicated by the slope of the correlation between N2O and O3 between 415 and 490 K, does not appear as a sharp border between the tropics and extratropics, but rather as a gradual transition region between 10 and 25° N latitude where isentropic mixing between these two regions may occur.

scholarly journals Carbon monoxide as a tracer for tropical troposphere to stratosphere transport in the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS)

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1185-1211 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Pommrich ◽  
R. Müller ◽  
J.-U. Grooß ◽  
P. Konopka ◽  
G. Günther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
Lagrangian Model ◽  
Mixing Ratio ◽  
Forecast System ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Tropical Troposphere ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Good Agreement

Abstract. Variations in the mixing ratio of trace gases of tropospheric origin entering the stratosphere in the tropics are of interest for assessing both troposphere to stratosphere transport fluxes in the tropics and the impact on the composition of the tropical lower stratosphere of quasi-horizontal in-mixing into the tropical tropopause layer from the mid-latitude stratosphere. Here, we present a simplified chemistry scheme for the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) for the simulation, at comparatively low numerical cost, of CO, ozone, and long-lived trace substances (CH4, N2O, CCl3F, and CO2) in the lower tropical stratosphere. The boundary conditions at the ground are represented for the long-lived trace substances CH4, N2O, CCl3F, and CO2 based on ground-based measurements. The boundary condition for CO in the free troposphere is deduced from MOPITT measurements. We find that the zonally averaged tropical CO anomaly patterns simulated by this model version of CLaMS are in good agreement with observations. The introduction of a new scheme in the ECMWF integrated forecast system (Tompkins et al., 2007) for the ice supersaturation after September 2006, results in a somewhat less good agreement between observed and simulated CO patterns in the tropical lower stratosphere after this date.

scholarly journals Annual cycle of ozone at and above the tropical tropopause: observations versus simulations with the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS)

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Konopka ◽  
J.-U. Grooß ◽  
G. Günther ◽  
F. Ploeger ◽  
R. Pommrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Lagrangian Model ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
In Situ Observations

Abstract. Multi-annual simulations with the Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere (CLaMS) were conducted to study the seasonality of O3 within the stratospheric part of the tropical tropopause layer (TTL), i.e. above θ=360 K potential temperature level. In agreement with satellite (HALOE) and in-situ observations (SHADOZ), CLaMS simulations show a pronounced annual cycle in O3, at and above θ=380 K, with the highest mixing ratios in the late boreal summer. Within the model, this cycle is driven by the seasonality of both upwelling and in-mixing. The latter process occurs through enhanced horizontal transport from the extratropics into the TTL that is mainly driven by the meridional, isentropic winds. The strongest in-mixing occurs during the late boreal summer from the Northern Hemisphere in the potential temperature range between 370 and 420 K. Complementary, the strongest upwelling occurs in winter reducing O3 to the lowest values in early spring. Both CLaMS simulations and Aura MLS O3 observations consistently show that enhanced in-mixing in summer is mainly driven by the Asian monsoon anticyclone.

scholarly journals Diagnosis of processes controlling water vapour in the tropical tropopause layer by a Lagrangian cirrus model

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 5515-5552 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ren ◽  
A. R. MacKenzie ◽  
C. Schiller ◽  
G. Shur ◽  
V. Yushkov
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Mixing Ratio ◽  
Total Water ◽  
Water Mixing ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Aircraft Flight ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Ecmwf Model

Abstract. We have developed a Lagrangian air-parcel cirrus model (LACM), to diagnose the processes controlling water in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL). LACM applies parameterised microphysics to air parcel trajectories. The parameterisation includes the homogeneous freezing of aerosol droplets, the growth/sublimation of ice particles, and sedimentation of ice particles, so capturing the main dehydration mechanism for air in the TTL. Rehydration is also considered by resetting the water vapour mixing ratio in an air parcel to the value at the point in the 4-D analysis/forecast data used to generate the trajectories, but only when certain conditions, indicative of convection, are satisfied. These conditions are imposed to confine what processes contribute to rehydration. The conditions act to restrict rehydration of the Lagrangian air parcels to regions where convective transport of water vapour from below is significant, at least to the extent that the analysis/forecast captures this process. The inclusion of hydration and dehydration mechanisms in LACM results in total water fields near tropical convection that have more of the "stripey" character of satellite observations of high cloud, than do either the ECMWF analysis or trajectories without microphysics. The mixing ratios of total water in the TTL, measured by a high-altitude aircraft over Brazil (during the TROCCINOX campaign), have been reconstructed by LACM using trajectories generated from ECMWF analysis. Two other Lagrangian reconstructions are also tested: linear interpolation of ECMWF analysed specific humidity onto the aircraft flight track, and instantaneous dehydration to the saturation vapour pressure over ice along trajectories. The reconstructed total water mixing ratios along aircraft flight tracks are compared with observations from the FISH total water hygrometer. Process-oriented analysis shows that modelled cirrus cloud events are responsible for dehydrating the air parcels coming from lower levels, resulting in total water mixing ratios as low as 2 μmol/mol. Without adding water back to some of the trajectories, the LACM and instantaneous-dehydration reconstructions have a dry bias. The interpolated-ECMWF reconstruction does not suffer this dry bias, because convection in the ECMWF model moistens air parcels dramatically, by pumping moist air upwards. This indicates that the ECMWF model captures the gross features of the rehydration of air in the TTL by convection. Overall, the ECMWF models captures well the exponential decrease in total water mixing ratio with height above 250 hPa, so that all the reconstruction techniques capture more than 75% of the variance in the measured total water mixing ratios over the depth of the TTL. We have therefore developed a simple method for re-setting the total water in LACM using the ECMWF-analysed specific humidity in regions where the model predicts convection. By picking up the main contributing processes to dehydration and rehydration in the TTL, LACM reconstructs total water mixing ratios along aircraft flight tracks at the top of the TTL, close to the cold point, that are always in substantially better agreement with observations than instantaneous-dehydration reconstructions, and better than the ECMWF analysis for regions of high relative humidity and cloud.

scholarly journals Effect of deep convection on the tropical tropopause layer composition over the southwest Indian Ocean during austral summer

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (17) ◽  
pp. 10565-10586
Author(s):  
Stephanie Evan ◽  
Jerome Brioude ◽  
Karen Rosenlof ◽  
Sean M. Davis ◽  
Holger Vömel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Tropical Cyclones ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Lagrangian Model ◽  
Southwest Indian Ocean ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Tropopause Region ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Balloon-borne measurements of cryogenic frost-point hygrometer (CFH) water vapor, ozone and temperature and water vapor lidar measurements from the Maïdo Observatory on Réunion Island in the southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) were used to study tropical cyclones' influence on tropical tropopause layer (TTL) composition. The balloon launches were specifically planned using a Lagrangian model and Meteosat-7 infrared images to sample the convective outflow from tropical storm (TS) Corentin on 25 January 2016 and tropical cyclone (TC) Enawo on 3 March 2017. Comparing the CFH profile to Aura's Microwave Limb Sounder's (MLS) monthly climatologies, water vapor anomalies were identified. Positive anomalies of water vapor and temperature, and negative anomalies of ozone between 12 and 15 km in altitude (247 to 121 hPa), originated from convectively active regions of TS Corentin and TC Enawo 1 d before the planned balloon launches according to the Lagrangian trajectories. Near the tropopause region, air masses on 25 January 2016 were anomalously dry around 100 hPa and were traced back to TS Corentin's active convective region where cirrus clouds and deep convective clouds may have dried the layer. An anomalously wet layer around 68 hPa was traced back to the southeast Indian Ocean where a monthly water vapor anomaly of 0.5 ppmv was observed. In contrast, no water vapor anomaly was found near or above the tropopause region on 3 March 2017 over Maïdo as the tropopause region was not downwind of TC Enawo. This study compares and contrasts the impact of two tropical cyclones on the humidification of the TTL over the SWIO. It also demonstrates the need for accurate balloon-borne measurements of water vapor, ozone and aerosols in regions where TTL in situ observations are sparse.

scholarly journals Deriving stratospheric age of air spectra using chemically active trace gases

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Hauck ◽  
Frauke Fritsch ◽  
Hella Garny ◽  
Andreas Engel
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Inverse Method ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Full Description ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Single Entry

Abstract. Analysis of stratospheric transport from an observational point of view is frequently realized by evaluation of mean age of air values from long-lived trace gases. However, this provides more insight into general transport strength and less into its mechanism. Deriving complete transit time distributions (age spectra) is desirable, but their deduction from direct measurements is difficult and so far primarily achieved by assumptions about dynamics and spectra themselves. This paper introduces a modified version of an inverse method to infer age spectra from mixing ratios of short-lived trace gases. For a full description of transport seasonality the formulation includes an imposed seasonal cycle to gain multimodal spectra. The EMAC model simulation used for a proof of concept features an idealized dataset of 40 radioactive trace gases with different chemical lifetimes as well as 40 chemically inert pulsed trace gases to calculate pulse age spectra. Annual and seasonal mean inverse spectra are compared to pulse spectra including first and second moments as well as the ratio between them to assess the performance on these time scales. Results indicate that the modified inverse age spectra match the annual and seasonal pulse age spectra well on global scale beyond 1.5 years mean age of air. The imposed seasonal cycle emerges as a reliable tool to include transport seasonality in the age spectra. Below 1.5 years mean age of air, tropospheric influence intensifies and breaks the assumption of single entry through the tropical tropopause, leading to inaccurate spectra in particular in the northern hemisphere. The imposed seasonal cycle wrongly prescribes seasonal entry in this lower region and does not lead to a better agreement between inverse and pulse age spectra without further improvement. As the inverse method aims for future implementation on in situ observational data, possible critical factors for this purpose are delineated finally.

scholarly journals Vertical profiles of NO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, HONO, HCHO, CHOCHO, and aerosols derived from MAX-DOAS measurements at a rural site in the central-western North China Plain and their relation to emission sources and effects of regional transport

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Wang ◽  
Steffen Dörner ◽  
Sebastian Donner ◽  
Sebastian Böhnke ◽  
Isabelle De Smedt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Gases ◽  
Rural Site ◽  
Optical Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Regional Transport ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
North West ◽  
Mixing Ratios ◽  
Chemistry Research

Abstract. A Multi Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instrument was deployed in May and June 2016 at a monitoring station (37.18° N, 114.36° E) in the suburban area of Xingtai (one of the most polluted cities in China) during the Atmosphere-Aerosol-Boundary Layer-Cloud (A2BC) and Air chemistry Research In Asia (ARIAs) joint experiments to derive tropospheric vertical profiles of NO2, SO2, HONO, HCHO, CHOCHO and aerosols. Aerosol optical depths derived from MAX-DOAS were found to be consistent with collocated sun-photometer measurements. Also the derived near-surface aerosol extinction and HCHO mixing ratio agree well with coincident visibility meter and in situ HCHO measurements, with mean HCHO near-surface mixing ratios of ~ 3.5 ppb. Underestimates of MAX-DOAS results compared to in situ measurements of NO2 (~ 60 %), SO2 (~ 20 %) are found expectedly due to vertical and horizontal inhomogeneity of trace gases. Vertical profiles of aerosols and NO2, SO2 are reasonably consistent with those measured by a collocated Raman Lidar and aircraft spirals over the station. The deviations can be attributed to differences in sensitivity as a function of altitude and substantial horizontal gradients of pollutants. Aerosols, HCHO, and CHOCHO profiles typically extended to higher altitudes (with 75 % integrated column located below ~ 1.4 km) than did NO2, SO2, and HONO (with 75 % integrated column below ~ 0.5 km) under polluted condition. Lifted layers were systematically observed for all species, (except HONO), indicating accumulation, secondary formation, or long-range transport of the pollutants at higher altitudes. Maximum values routinely occurred in the morning for NO2, SO2, and HONO, but around noon for aerosols, HCHO, and CHOCHO, mainly dominated by photochemistry, characteristic upslope/downslope circulation and PBL dynamics. Significant day-to-day variations are found for all species due to the effect of regional transport and changes in synoptic pattern analysed with HYSPLIT trajectories. Low pollution was often observed for air masses from the north-west (behind cold fronts), and high pollution from the southern areas such as industrialized Wuan. The contribution of regional transport for the pollutants measured at the site during the observation period was estimated to be about 20 % to 30 % for trace gases, and about 50 % for aerosols. In addition, agricultural burning events impacted the day-to-day variations of HCHO, CHOCHO and aerosols.

scholarly journals MAX-DOAS measurements of NO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, HCHO, and BrO at the Mt. Waliguan WMO GAW global baseline station in the Tibetan Plateau

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 6973-6990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianzhong Ma ◽  
Steffen Dörner ◽  
Sebastian Donner ◽  
Junli Jin ◽  
Siyang Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Statistical Error ◽  
Tropospheric Chemistry ◽  
Ozone Production ◽  
Optical Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Mixing Ratios

Abstract. Mt. Waliguan Observatory (WLG) is a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) global baseline station in China. WLG is located at the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau (36∘17′ N, 100∘54′ E, 3816 m a.s.l.) and is representative of the pristine atmosphere over the Eurasian continent. We made long-term ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements at WLG during the period 2012–2015. In this study, we retrieve the differential slant column densities (dSCDs) and estimate the tropospheric background mixing ratios of different trace gases, including NO2, SO2, HCHO, and BrO, using the measured spectra at WLG. Averaging of 10 original spectra is found to be an “optimum option” for reducing both the statistical error of the spectral retrieval and systematic errors in the analysis. The dSCDs of NO2, SO2, HCHO, and BrO under clear-sky and low-aerosol-load conditions are extracted from measured spectra at different elevation angles at WLG. By performing radiative transfer simulations with the model TRACY-2, we establish approximate relationships between the trace gas dSCDs at 1∘ elevation angle and the corresponding average tropospheric background volume mixing ratios. Mixing ratios of these trace gases in the lower troposphere over WLG are estimated to be in a range of about 7 ppt (January) to 100 ppt (May) for NO2, below 0.5 ppb for SO2, between 0.4 and 0.9 ppb for HCHO, and lower than 0.3 ppt for BrO. The chemical box model simulations constrained by the NO2 concentration from our MAX-DOAS measurements show that there is a little net ozone loss (−0.8 ppb d−1) for the free-tropospheric conditions and a little net ozone production (0.3 ppb d−1) for the boundary layer conditions over WLG during summertime. Our study provides valuable information and data sets for further investigating tropospheric chemistry in the background atmosphere and its links to anthropogenic activities.

scholarly journals The NASA Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment: High-Altitude Aircraft Measurements in the Tropical Western Pacific

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Jensen ◽  
Leonhard Pfister ◽  
David E. Jordan ◽  
Thaopaul V. Bui ◽  
Rei Ueyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
Active Species ◽  
Convective Transport ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Lower Altitude ◽  
Tropical Tropopause Layer ◽  
Tropical Tropopause ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Global Hawk

Abstract The February–March 2014 deployment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX) provided unique in situ measurements in the western Pacific tropical tropopause layer (TTL). Six flights were conducted from Guam with the long-range, high-altitude, unmanned Global Hawk aircraft. The ATTREX Global Hawk payload provided measurements of water vapor, meteorological conditions, cloud properties, tracer and chemical radical concentrations, and radiative fluxes. The campaign was partially coincident with the Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) and the Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST) airborne campaigns based in Guam using lower-altitude aircraft (see companion articles in this issue). The ATTREX dataset is being used for investigations of TTL cloud, transport, dynamical, and chemical processes, as well as for evaluation and improvement of global-model representations of TTL processes. The ATTREX data are publicly available online (at https://espoarchive.nasa.gov/).

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