Seasonal variation of water vapor in the lower stratosphere observed in Halogen Occultation Experiment data

Randel, William J.; Wu, Fei; Gettelman, Andrew; Russell, James M.; Zawodny, J. M.; Oltmans, S. J.

doi:10.1029/2001jd900048

Cited by 152 publications

(204 citation statements)

References 57 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…The additional effect of upward transport in the lower-stratospheric Brewer-Dobson circulation creates the well-known water vapour tape recorder signal (e.g. Mote et al, 1996;Randel et al, 2001). Note that the larger annual temperature cycle at 70 hPa (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The radiative role of ozone and water vapour in the annual temperature cycle in the tropical tropopause layer

Ming¹,

Maycock²,

Hitchcock³

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. The structure and amplitude of the radiative contributions of the annual cycles in ozone and water vapour to the prominent annual cycle in temperatures in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) are considered. This is done initially through a seasonally evolving fixed dynamical heating (SEFDH) calculation. The annual cycle in ozone is found to drive significant temperature changes predominantly locally (in the vertical) and roughly in phase with the observed TTL annual cycle. In contrast, temperature changes driven by the annual cycle in water vapour are out of phase with the latter. The effects are weaker than those of ozone but still quantitatively significant, particularly near the cold point (100 to 90 hPa) where there are substantial non-local effects from variations in water vapour in lower layers of the TTL. The combined radiative heating effect of the annual cycles in ozone and water vapour maximizes above the cold point and is one factor contributing to the vertical structure of the amplitude of the annual cycle in lower-stratospheric temperatures, which has a relatively localized maximum around 70 hPa. Other important factors are identified here: radiative damping timescales, which are shown to maximize over a deep layer centred on the cold point; the vertical structure of the dynamical heating; and non-radiative processes in the upper troposphere that are inferred to impose a strong constraint on tropical temperature perturbations below 130 hPa. The latitudinal structure of the radiative contributions to the annual cycle in temperatures is found to be substantially modified when the SEFDH assumption is relaxed and the dynamical response, as represented by a zonally symmetric calculation, is taken into account. The effect of the dynamical response is to reduce the strong latitudinal gradients and interhemispheric asymmetry seen in the purely radiative SEFDH temperature response, while leaving the 20 • N-20 • S average response relatively unchanged. The net contribution of the annual ozone and water vapour cycles to the peak-to-peak amplitude in the annual cycle of TTL temperatures is found to be around 35 % of the observed 8 K at 70 hPa, 40 % of 6 K at 90 hPa, and 45 % of 3 K at 100 hPa. The primary sensitivity of the calculated magnitude of the temperature response is identified as the assumed annual mean ozone mixing ratio in the TTL.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The radiative role of ozone and water vapour in the annual temperature cycle in the tropical tropopause layer

Ming¹,

Maycock²,

Hitchcock³

et al. 2017

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…Latitude vs. log (Pressure) plots. downwards and polewards suggesting quasi horizontal transport in the lowermost stratosphere as discussed in Randel et al (2001). The gradients above 50 hPa indicate a much more horizontally isolated tropical stratosphere at these levels.…”

Section: Lower Stratospheric Water Vapor and Zonal Windsmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…HALOE is validated against other stratospheric water vapor measurements in the Stratospheric Processes and Their Role in Climate (SPARC) water vapor assessment study (WMO 2000). The HALOE instrument has been widely used for water vapor studies such as in the works of: Mote et al (1996); Rosenlof et al (1997); Considine et al (2001); Randel et al (2001);Geller et al (2002);and Gettelman et al (2002). We obtained the data from the SPARC Reference Climatology Project (randel@ucar.…”

Section: Observations and Reanalysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This seasonal signal is often cited as the "Tape Recorder Signal" (Mote et al 1996), and provides valuable information of the general circulation of the stratosphere. The tape recorder signal is suitable for transport analyzes in observational data (Clark et al 2001;Randel et al 2001), and for transport validation of general circulation models, GCMs. The quasi biennal oscillation (QBO) as well as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are important factors for the interannual variability of stratospheric water vapor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling Water Vapor in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere

Gulstad¹,

Isaksen²

2007

Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci.

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“…[27] Randel et al [2001] analyzed the water vapor mixing ratio of 390 K isentropes that nearly corresponds to the tropopause based on Halogen Occultation Experiment satellite data. They showed that a water vapor minimum region in January exists on the northern side of the equator (centered at 10°-20°N) in longitudinal sections including Indonesia.…”

Section: Latitudinal and Longitudinal Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and interannual variations of temperature in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) over Indonesia based on operational rawinsonde data during 1992–1999

et al. 2006

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[1] Seasonal and interannual variations of temperature in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) during 1992-1999 are investigated on the basis of operational rawinsonde data over Indonesia and surrounding stations at 90-140°E, 15°N-15°S. An annual variation characterized by a warm (cold) anomaly in the northern summer (winter) is observed at all analysis stations. Reanalysis data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP Reanalysis) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA-40) failed to fully reproduce the observed seasonal variation over Indonesia, especially during northern winter. NCEP Reanalysis data are biased, and ERA-40 data agreed well only at surrounding stations. These results are reflections of the operational rawinsonde data over Indonesia which are incorrectly reported to the Global Telecommunication Systems (GTS). The cold point tropopause (CPT) temperature varies annually, having a warm (cold) phase in northern summer (winter) and a latitudinal structure having the warmest temperatures over the equator. The latitudinal structure over Indonesia is the inverse of that observed in the zonal and annual mean fields; therefore effective cold trap regions for water vapor dehydration events appear away from the equator. Longitudinally, the CPT temperature is lowest over Indonesia compared to other longitudinal sections and decreases eastward along the equator inside the analysis region (Indonesia). This east-west gradient in CPT temperature within the analysis region was affected during the 1997/1998 El Niño and 1998/1999 La Niña, but the longitudinal range of effect and time variation of the CPT temperature anomaly was independent of the El Niño and La Niña events.

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Seasonal variation of water vapor in the lower stratosphere observed in Halogen Occultation Experiment data

Cited by 152 publications

References 57 publications

The radiative role of ozone and water vapour in the annual temperature cycle in the tropical tropopause layer

The radiative role of ozone and water vapour in the annual temperature cycle in the tropical tropopause layer

Modeling Water Vapor in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere

Seasonal and interannual variations of temperature in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) over Indonesia based on operational rawinsonde data during 1992–1999

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