Stratospheric water vapor increases over the past half‐century

Rosenlof, Karen H.; Oltmans, S. J.; Kley, D.; Russell, J. M.; Chiou, E. W.; Chu, William; Johnson, David G.; Kelly, K. K.; Michelsen, Hope A.; Nedoluha, Gerald E.; Remsberg, Ellis E.; Toon, G. C.; McCormick, M. P.

doi:10.1029/2000gl012502

Cited by 289 publications

(316 citation statements)

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“…The interest in middle atmospheric H 2 O was further intensified following observations made by Oltmans and Hofmann (1995) and after this by others (SPARC, 2000, and references therein;Rosenlof et al, 2001) who found increasing H 2 O concentrations of 30-150 nmol/mol yr −1 in the middle atmosphere since 1954. Not only the possible causes of this trend but also the consequences for Earth's climate and the chemistry of the middle atmosphere are a matter of vital discussion Shine, 1999, 2002;Kirk-Davidoff et al, 1999;Stenke and Grewe, 2004;Röckmann et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, early observations by Guo et al (1989) showed increasing δ 18 O(H 2 O) values from (80 ± 140)‰ at 22 km altitude to (400 ± 250)‰ at 37 km. Using a balloon-borne spectrometer, Johnson et al (2001) obtained low isotope ratios of -(300-30)‰ (average: -128‰) for δ 18 O(H 2 O), and of -(400-0)‰ (average: -84‰) for δ 17 O(H 2 O) at 12-20 km altitude.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Johnson et al (2001a) applied a simple photochemical model with many simplifications, but inferred excellent agreement with own δD(H 2 O) and δ 18 O(H 2 O) balloon-borne observations conducted between 1989 and 1997. The major difference of the present model study compared to earlier work is first that all three stable isotope signatures δD(H 2 O), δ 17 O(H 2 O), and δ 18 O(H 2 O) both in the stratosphere as well as in the mesosphere are combined, and second that a large number of isotope exchange reactions and all isotope fractionation coefficients measured so far are considered. Special emphasis is put on the specific pathways of D, (i) Most stable isotope H 2 O data were collected using remote-sensing infrared spectroscopy techniques (Abbas et al, 1987;Carli and Park, 1988;Guo et al, 1989;Dinelli et al, 1991Rinsland et al, 1984Rinsland et al, , 1991Stowasser et al, 1999;Johnson et al, 2001;Kuang et al, 2003). They all reveal strong depletions of δD(H 2 O) with respect to V-SMOW which significantly decrease with altitude, from about -(660 ± 80)‰ at the tropical tropopause (Moyer et al, 1996;Johnson et al, 2001;Kuang et al, 2003;McCarthy et al, 2004) to typically -(450 ± 70)‰ at 40 km.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Special emphasis is put on the specific pathways of D, (i) Most stable isotope H 2 O data were collected using remote-sensing infrared spectroscopy techniques (Abbas et al, 1987;Carli and Park, 1988;Guo et al, 1989;Dinelli et al, 1991Rinsland et al, 1984Rinsland et al, , 1991Stowasser et al, 1999;Johnson et al, 2001;Kuang et al, 2003). They all reveal strong depletions of δD(H 2 O) with respect to V-SMOW which significantly decrease with altitude, from about -(660 ± 80)‰ at the tropical tropopause (Moyer et al, 1996;Johnson et al, 2001;Kuang et al, 2003;McCarthy et al, 2004) to typically -(450 ± 70)‰ at 40 km. Observations by Stowasser et al (1999) showed extreme δD(H 2 O) depletions as low as -830‰ at 17 km inside the Arctic vortex, which was attributed to condensation and subsequent sedimentation of polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) particles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modelling the budget of middle atmospheric water vapour isotopes

Zahn¹,

Franz

Bechtel

et al. 2006

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract.A one-dimensional chemistry model is applied to study the stable hydrogen (D) and stable oxygen isotope ( 17 O, 18 O) composition of water vapour in stratosphere and mesosphere. In the troposphere, this isotope composition is determined by "physical" fractionation effects, that are phase changes (e.g. during cloud formation), diffusion processes (e.g. during evaporation from the ocean), and mixing of air masses. Due to these processes water vapour entering the stratosphere first shows isotope depletions in D/H relative to ocean water, which are ∼5 times of those in 18 In the stratosphere the known mass-independent fractionation (MIF) signal in O 3 is in a first step transferred to the NO x family and only in a second step to HO x and H 2 O. In contrast to CO 2 , O( 1 D) only plays a minor role in this MIF transfer. The major uncertainty in our calculation arises from poorly quantified isotope exchange reaction rate coefficients and kinetic isotope fractionation factors.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Modelling the budget of middle atmospheric water vapour isotopes

Zahn¹,

Franz

Bechtel

et al. 2006

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…This has been motivated by observations which show a positive trend during the late twentieth century (e.g. Rosenlof et al, 2001;Scherer et al, 2008) and a sudden decrease of around 10% (∼0.5 ppmv)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The temperature response to stratospheric water vapour changes

Maycock

Shine

Joshi

2011

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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This study uses an analytical model, based on the cooling-to-space approximation, and a fixed dynamical heating model to investigate the structure of the stratospheric cooling that occurs in response to a uniform increase in stratospheric water vapour (SWV). At all latitudes, the largest cooling occurs in the lower stratosphere and decreases in magnitude with height. The cooling is strongly enhanced in the Extratropics compared to the Tropics. This is markedly different to the case of an increase in CO 2 , which causes maximum cooling near the stratopause and a small warming in the tropical lower stratosphere. The qualitative differences in the structure of the cooling can be explained by the smaller opacity of water vapour bands in the stratosphere compared to CO 2 . The small opacity means that the magnitude of the initial heating rate perturbation only decreases by a factor of four between the upper and lower stratosphere for a SWV perturbation. Therefore, to balance the heating rate perturbation, the largest temperature change is required in the lower stratosphere. Increasing the background concentration of SWV causes the water vapour bands to become more opaque. For a SWV perturbation applied to a background SWV concentration ≥30 ppmv, the heating rate perturbation and temperature change structurally resemble those from an increase in CO 2 . In the Extratropics, the lower height of the tropopause is found to cause the enhancement in the cooling at those latitudes. By controlling the depth of atmosphere which adjusts to the SWV perturbation, the tropopause height affects the net exchange of radiation between the layers in the stratosphere as they cool. The latitudinal gradient in upwelling infrared radiation at the tropopause and variations in the background temperature are found to have only a minor effect on the structure of the stratospheric temperature response to a change in SWV. Copyright c 2011 Royal Meteorological Society Key Words: radiative transfer; fixed dynamical heating; stratospheric water vapour

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Climate Change – Past, Present and Future

Hengeveld¹

2005

Encyclopedia of Hydrological Sciences

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Local climate is a major determinant of both the composition and behavior of a region's ecosystems and of the infrastructure and culture of human society residing within the region. Hence, climatic statistics are an important factor in ecosystem management and planning for socioeconomic development. However, although decision makers often treat these statistics as a constant, there is clear evidence that climate has changed, is changing, and will change. Large natural changes have occurred in the geologic past. However, these have been relatively modest during the past few millennia. On the other hand, human interference with the climate system, primarily through land use change and changes in atmospheric composition, is now adding an unprecedented and increasingly dominant force for change. There is convincing evidence that this interference has already caused a substantial increase in global mean temperatures over the past 50 years. Projected changes for the next century will likely exceed anything yet experienced in human history and could rival the magnitude of very large changes during the past million years, but at a much more rapid rate. Such rapid change will have dramatic implications for, inter alia, the global hydrological cycle and the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.

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Stratospheric water vapor increases over the past half‐century

Cited by 289 publications

References 27 publications

Modelling the budget of middle atmospheric water vapour isotopes

Modelling the budget of middle atmospheric water vapour isotopes

The temperature response to stratospheric water vapour changes

Climate Change – Past, Present and Future

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