High-Resolution Stratospheric Tracer Fields Estimated from Satellite Observations Using Lagrangian Trajectory Calculations

Sutton, Rowan; Maclean, Hector; Swinbank, Richard; O’Neill, A.; Taylor, Fredric W.

doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1994)051<2995:hrstfe>2.0.co;2

Cited by 168 publications

(129 citation statements)

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“…Most notable among these techniques are "reverse domain filling" (Dritschel, 1988 andSutton et al, 1994) and "trajectory mapping" (Pierce et al, 1994 andMorris et al, 1995). Here we apply the trajectory mapping technique to the ground-based H 2 O measurements to generate synoptic scale maps of the middle atmospheric H 2 O distribution at a given time and altitude layer.…”

Section: Trajectory Mappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of middle atmospheric H2O and O3 during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

et al. 2012

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Abstract. In this study, we present middle atmospheric water vapor (H 2 O) and ozone (O 3 ) measurements obtained by ground-based microwave radiometers at three European locations in Bern (47 • N), Onsala (57 • N) and Sodankylä (67 • N) during Northern winter 2009/2010. In January 2010, a major sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) occurred in the Northern Hemisphere whose signatures are evident in the ground-based observations of H 2 O and O 3 . The observed anomalies in H 2 O and O 3 are mostly explained by the relative location of the polar vortex with respect to the measurement locations. The SSW started on 26 January 2010 and was most pronounced by the end of January. The zonal mean temperature in the middle stratosphere (10 hPa) increased by approximately 25 Kelvin within a few days. The stratospheric vortex weakened during the SSW and shifted towards Europe. In the mesosphere, the vortex broke down, which lead to large scale mixing of polar and midlatitudinal air. After the warming, the polar vortex in the stratosphere split into two weaker vortices and in the mesosphere, a new, pole-centered vortex formed with maximum wind speed of 70 m s −1 at approximately 40 • N. The shift of the stratospheric vortex towards Europe was observed in Bern as an increase in stratospheric H 2 O and a decrease in O 3 . The breakdown of the mesospheric vortex during the SSW was observed at Onsala and Sodankylä as a sudden increase in mesospheric H 2 O. The following large-scale descent inside the newly formed mesospheric vortex was well captured by the H 2 O observations in Sodankylä. In order to combine the H 2 O observations from the three different locations, we applied the trajectory mapping technique on our H 2 O observations to derive synoptic scale maps of the H 2 O distribution. Based on our observations and the 3-D wind field, this method allows determining the approximate development of the stratospheric and mesospheric polar vortex and demonstrates the potential of a network of ground-based instruments.

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Section: Trajectory Mappingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of middle atmospheric H2O and O3 during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

et al. 2012

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“…In many previous studies, the tracer was potential vorticity (PV) and it was initialised according to the analysis from weather centers. The value of this approach has been demonstrated by comparing the reconstructed PV with observations of tracers, either in the stratosphere with aerosols and ozone Sutton et al, 1994;Mariotti et al, 1997;Orsolini et al, 2001) or in the troposphere with water vapour (Appenzeller et al, 1996). However, PV can hardly be measured by in situ instruments and cannot be assumed to correlate perfectly with any measurable tracer.…”

Section: Diffusive Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proof of this concept is provided by the ability to reconstruct the small-scale distribution of tracers by advection methods using analysed winds Sutton et al, 1994;Mariotti et al, 1997). The basis of these methods is that layer-wise tracer advection in the stratosphere is dominated by the large scales of motion which are sufficiently well resolved by operational analysed winds provided by the major weather centers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of the Lagrangian turbulent diffusion in the lower stratosphere

Legras

Pisso

Berthet³

et al. 2005

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

109

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Abstract. Ozone and nitrous oxide are measured at high spatial and temporal resolution by instruments flying on the ER-2 NASA research aircraft. Comparing the airborne transects to reconstructions by ensemble of diffusive backward trajectories allows estimation of the average vertical Lagrangian turbulent diffusion experienced by the air parcels. The resulting estimates show large Lagrangian diffusion of the order of 0.1 m 2 s −1 in the surf zone outside the polar vortex and smaller values of the order of 0.01 m 2 s −1 inside. Locally, large variation of Lagrangian diffusion occurs over mesoscale distances. It is found that high temporal resolution (3 h or less) is required for off-line transport calculations and that the reconstructions are sensitive to spurious motion in standard analysed winds.

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“…It is therefore possible to extend sparse ozonesonde measurements and to fill the gaps in the spatial domain by trajectory calculations, assuming the ozone mixing ratio along each trajectory path is constant. This is a technique that has been used successfully with other stratospheric data (Sutton et al, 1994;Newman and Schoeberl, 1995;Morris et al, 2000), and with ozone data in both the stratosphere and troposphere. Stohl et al (2001) used trajectory statistics to extend one year of MOZAIC (Measurement of Ozone and Water Vapour by Airbus In-service Aircraft) ozone measurements into a 4-season ozone climatology at a 10 • × 6 • (longitude by latitude) horizontal grid and three vertical heights.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A global ozone climatology from ozone soundings via trajectory mapping: a stratospheric perspective

et al. 2013

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Abstract. This study explores a domain-filling trajectory approach to generate a global ozone climatology from relatively sparse ozonesonde data. Global ozone soundings comprising 51 898 profiles at 116 stations over 44 yr are used, from which forward and backward trajectories are calculated from meteorological reanalysis data to map ozone measurements to other locations and so fill in the spatial domain. The resulting global ozone climatology is archived monthly for five decades from the 1960s to the 2000s on a grid of 5 • × 5 • × 1 km (latitude, longitude, and altitude), from the surface to 26 km altitude. It is also archived yearly for the same period. The climatology is validated at 20 selected ozonesonde stations by comparing the actual ozone sounding profile with that derived through trajectory mapping of ozone sounding data from all stations except the one being compared. The two sets of profiles are in good agreement, both overall with correlation coefficient r = 0.991 and root mean square (RMS) of 224 ppbv and individually with r from 0.975 to 0.998 and RMS from 87 to 482 ppbv. The ozone climatology is also compared with two sets of satellite data from the Satellite Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) and the Optical Spectrography and InfraRed Imager System (OSIRIS). The ozone climatology compares well with SAGE and OSIRIS data in both seasonal and zonal means. The mean differences are generally quite small, with maximum differences of 20 % above 15 km. The agreement is better in the Northern Hemisphere, where there are more ozonesonde stations, than in the Southern Hemisphere; it is also better in the middle and high latitudes than in the tropics where reanalysis winds are less accurate. This ozone climatology captures known features in the stratosphere as well as seasonal and decadal variations of these features. The climatology clearly shows the depletion of ozone from the 1970s to the mid 1990s and ozone increases in the 2000s in the lower stratosphere. When this climatology is used as the upper boundary condition in an Environment Canada operational chemical forecast model, the forecast is improved in the vicinity of the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere (UTLS) region. This ozone climatology is latitudinally, longitudinally, and vertically resolved and it offers more complete high latitude coverage as well as a much longer record than current satellite data. As the climatology depends on neither a priori data nor photochemical modeling, it provides independent information and insight that can supplement satellite data and model simulations of stratospheric ozone.

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High-Resolution Stratospheric Tracer Fields Estimated from Satellite Observations Using Lagrangian Trajectory Calculations

Cited by 168 publications

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Observations of middle atmospheric H<sub>2</sub>O and O<sub>3</sub> during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

Observations of middle atmospheric H<sub>2</sub>O and O<sub>3</sub> during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

Variability of the Lagrangian turbulent diffusion in the lower stratosphere

A global ozone climatology from ozone soundings via trajectory mapping: a stratospheric perspective

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High-Resolution Stratospheric Tracer Fields Estimated from Satellite Observations Using Lagrangian Trajectory Calculations

Cited by 168 publications

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Observations of middle atmospheric H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O and O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

Observations of middle atmospheric H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O and O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

Variability of the Lagrangian turbulent diffusion in the lower stratosphere

A global ozone climatology from ozone soundings via trajectory mapping: a stratospheric perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

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Observations of middle atmospheric H<sub>2</sub>O and O<sub>3</sub> during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers

Observations of middle atmospheric H<sub>2</sub>O and O<sub>3</sub> during the 2010 major sudden stratospheric warming by a network of microwave radiometers