Stratosphere–Troposphere Exchange and Its Relation to Potential Vorticity Streamers and Cutoffs near the Extratropical Tropopause
Abstract Two distinct dynamical processes near the dynamical tropopause (2-PVU surface) and their relation are discussed in this study: stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) and the formation of distinct potential vorticity (PV) structures in the form of stratospheric and tropospheric streamers and cutoffs on isentropic surfaces. Two previously compiled climatologies based upon the 15-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis (ERA-15) dataset (from 1979 to 1993) are used to establish and quantify the link between STE and these PV structures. An event-based analysis reveals a strong relation between the two processes. For instance, on isentropes below 320 K, 30%–50%…
Highly resolved observations of trace gases in the lowermost stratosphere and upper troposphere from the Spurt project: an overview
International audience; During SPURT (Spurenstofftransport in der Tropopausenregion, trace gas transport in the tropopause region) we performed measurements of a wide range of trace gases with different lifetimes and sink/source characteristics in the northern hemispheric upper troposphere (UT) and lowermost stratosphere (LMS). A large number of in-situ instruments were deployed on board a Learjet 35A, flying at altitudes up to 13.7 km, at times reaching to nearly 380 K potential temperature. Eight measurement campaigns (consisting of a total of 36 flights), distributed over all seasons and typically covering latitudes between 35° N and 75° N in the European longitude sector (10° W?20° E), …
Northern Hemisphere extratropical cyclones: A comparison of detection and tracking methods and different reanalyses
Abstract The applicability of three different cyclone detection and tracking schemes is investigated with reanalysis datasets. First, cyclone climatologies and cyclone characteristics of the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) are compared with the NCEP–NCAR dataset using one method. ERA-40 shows systematically more cyclones, and therefore a higher cyclone center density, than the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis dataset. Geostrophically adjusted geopotential height gradients around cyclone centers, a measure of cyclone intensity, are enhanced in ERA-40 compared with the NCEP–NCAR reanalysis dataset. The variability of the number of cyclones per season is significantly correlated between the two reanalysi…
Lagrangian matches between observations from aircraft, lidar and radar in a warm conveyor belt crossing orography
Warm conveyor belts (WCBs) are important airstreams in extratropical cyclones, often leading to the formation of intense precipitation and the amplification of upper-level ridges. This study presents a case study that involves aircraft, lidar and radar observations in a WCB ascending from western Europe towards the Baltic Sea during the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) and T-NAWDEX-Falcon in October 2012, a preparatory campaign for the THORPEX North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment (T-NAWDEX). Trajectories were used to link different observations along the WCB, that is, to establish so-called Lagrangian matches between observations. To this aim, …
Stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) in the vicinity of North Atlantic cyclones
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15 (19)
Seasonality and extent of extratropical TST derived from in-situ CO measurements during SPURT
Abstract. We present airborne in-situ trace gas measurements which were performed on eight campaigns between November 2001 and July 2003 during the SPURT-project (SPURenstofftransport in der Tropopausenregion, trace gas transport in the tropopause region). The measurements on a quasi regular basis allowed an overview of the seasonal variations of the trace gas distribution in the tropopause region over Europe from 35°-75°N to investigate the influence of transport and mixing across the extratropical tropopause on the lowermost stratosphere. From the correlation of CO and O3 irreversible mixing of tropospheric air into the lowermost stratosphere is identified. The CO distribution indicates t…
Interannual variability of Greenland winter precipitation sources: Lagrangian moisture diagnostic and North Atlantic Oscillation influence
[1] We present a new Lagrangian diagnostic for identifying the sources of water vapor for precipitation. Unlike previous studies, the method allows for a quantitative demarcation of evaporative moisture sources. This is achieved by taking into account the temporal sequence of evaporation into and precipitation from an air parcel during transport, as well as information on its proximity to the boundary layer. The moisture source region diagnostic was applied to trace the origin of water vapor for winter precipitation over the Greenland ice sheet for 30 selected months with pronounced positive, negative, and neutral North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, using the European Centre for Medium-…
Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs): II. Stabilization mechanisms
Abstract. Mechanisms by which subvisible cirrus clouds (SVCs) might contribute to dehydration close to the tropical tropopause are not well understood. Recently Ultrathin Tropical Tropopause Clouds (UTTCs) with optical depths around 10-4 have been detected in the western Indian ocean. These clouds cover thousands of square kilometers as 200-300 m thick distinct and homogeneous layer just below the tropical tropopause. In their condensed phase UTTCs contain only 1-5% of the total water, and essentially no nitric acid. A new cloud stabilization mechanism is required to explain this small fraction of the condensed water content in the clouds and their small vertical thickness. This work sugges…
Interannual variability of Greenland winter precipitation sources: 2. Effects of North Atlantic Oscillation variability on stable isotopes in precipitation
[1] A new Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic is applied to identify the atmospheric conditions relevant for the fractionation of stable water isotopes during evaporation over the ocean and subsequent transport to Greenland. Northern Hemisphere winter months with positive and negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index are studied on the basis of ERA-40 reanalysis data. Diagnosed moisture transport conditions are supplied to a Rayleigh-type isotope fractionation model to derive estimates for the isotopic composition of stable isotopes in winter precipitation on the Greenland plateau for the two NAO phases. Because of changes in atmospheric circulation, moisture source locations for pr…
A PV Perspective on the Vertical Structure of Mature Midlatitude Cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere
Abstract Development of extratropical cyclones can be seen as an interplay of three positive potential vorticity anomalies: an upper-level stratospheric intrusion, low-tropospheric diabatically produced potential vorticity (PV), and a warm anomaly at the surface acting as a surrogate PV anomaly. This study, based on the interim ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) dataset, quantifies the amplitude of the PV anomalies of mature extratropical cyclones in different regions in the Northern Hemisphere on a climatological basis. A tracking algorithm is applied to sea level pressure (SLP) fields to identify cyclone tracks. Surface potential temperature anomalies Δθ and vertical profiles of PV anomalies…
On the Co-Occurrence of Warm Conveyor Belt Outflows and PV Streamers
Abstract The co-occurrence of warm conveyor belts (WCBs), strongly ascending moist airstreams in extratropical cyclones, and stratospheric potential vorticity (PV) streamers, indicators for breaking Rossby waves on the tropopause, is investigated for a 21-yr period in the Northern Hemisphere using Interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) data. WCB outflows and PV streamers are respectively identified as two- and three-dimensional objects and tracked during their life cycle. PV streamers are more frequent than WCB outflows and nearly 15% of all PV streamers co-occur with WCBs during their life cycle, whereas about 60% of all WCB outflows co…
The key role of diabatic processes in modifying the upper-tropospheric wave guide: a North Atlantic case-study
This study highlights the importance of diabatic processes for the complex interaction of weather systems in the North Atlantic–European sector during the week of 7–14 September 2008. A chain of events occurred including the extratropical transition (ET) of hurricane Hanna, a subsequently developing extratropical cyclone, the formation of an upper-level potential vorticity (PV) streamer that protruded towards Europe and triggered intense rainfall, and the genesis of a Mediterranean cyclone. A PV perspective is adopted along with trajectory calculations to elucidate the diabatic modification of the midlatitude flow. Important diabatic PV modifications occurred at upper levels, associated wit…
A Global Climatology of Tropical Moisture Exports
Abstract In a recent paper, a climatology of tropical moisture exports (TMEs) to the Northern Hemisphere (NH) was constructed on the basis of 7-day forward trajectories, started daily from the tropical lower troposphere, which were required to reach a water vapor flux of at least 100 g kg−1 m s−1 somewhere north of 35°N. It was shown that TMEs contribute significantly to regional precipitation. Here, the authors complement and extend this work by (i) using 6-hourly European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) data from 1979 to 2010 instead of the earlier 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40), (ii) extending the climatology to the Southern Hemispher…
Identification and climatology of cut-off lows near the tropopause.
Cut-off low pressure systems (COLs) are defined as closed lows in the upper troposphere that have become completely detached from the main westerly current. These slow-moving systems often affect the weather conditions at the earth's surface and also work as a mechanism of mass transfer between the stratosphere and the troposphere, playing a significant role in the net flow of tropospheric ozone. In the first part of this work we provide a comprehensive summary of results obtained in previous studies of COLs. Following this, we present three long-term climatologies of COLs. The first two climatologies are based on the conceptual model of a COL, using European Centre for Medium-range Weather…
Identification and ERA-15 Climatology of Potential Vorticity Streamers and Cutoffs near the Extratropical Tropopause
Abstract A novel approach is introduced to identify potential vorticity (PV) streamers and cutoffs as indicators of Rossby wave breaking near the extratropical tropopause and to compile climatologies of these features on different isentropic surfaces. The method is based on a contour searching algorithm that identifies the dynamical tropopause [2 potential vorticity units (PVU; PVU ≡ 1 × 10−6 K kg−1 m2 s−1) isoline] on isentropic surfaces. The contour is then analyzed to search for cutoffs and filament-like streamers. Whereas the identification of cutoffs is unambiguous, the one for streamers requires the specification of two parameters that determine the width and length of the contour fea…
Life Cycle Study of a Diabatic Rossby Wave as a Precursor to Rapid Cyclogenesis in the North Atlantic—Dynamics and Forecast Performance
Monthly Weather Review, 139 (6)
Global Climatologies of Eulerian and Lagrangian Flow Features based on ERA-Interim
Abstract This paper introduces a newly compiled set of feature-based climatologies identified from ERA-Interim (1979–2014). Two categories of flow features are considered: (i) Eulerian climatologies of jet streams, tropopause folds, surface fronts, cyclones and anticyclones, blocks, and potential vorticity streamers and cutoffs and (ii) Lagrangian climatologies, based on a large ensemble of air parcel trajectories, of stratosphere–troposphere exchange, warm conveyor belts, and tropical moisture exports. Monthly means of these feature climatologies are openly available at the ETH Zürich web page (http://eraiclim.ethz.ch) and are annually updated. Datasets at higher resolution can be obtained…
Lagrangian matches between observations from aircraft, lidar and radar in an orographic warm conveyor belt
Warm conveyor belts (WCBs) are important airstreams in extratropical cyclones, often leading to the formation of intense precipitation and the amplification of upper-level ridges. This study presents a case study that involves aircraft, lidar and radar observations in a WCB ascending from western Europe towards the Baltic Sea during the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) and T-NAWDEX-Falcon in October 2012, a preparatory campaign for the THORPEX North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment (T-NAWDEX). Trajectories were used to link different observations along the WCB, that is, to establish so-called Lagrangian matches between observations. To this aim, …
The Mineral Dust Cycle in EMAC 2.40: sensitivity to the spectral resolution and the dust emission scheme
This first detailed analysis of the mineral dust cycle in the ECHAM5/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) model system investigates the performance of two dust emission schemes, following the approach of Balkanski et al. (2004) and Tegen et al. (2002), respectively, and the influence of the horizontal model resolution. Here the spectral resolutions T42, T63, T85, and T106 are investigated. A basic sulphur chemistry, enabling the coating of insoluble dust particles to make them soluble, is employed in order to realistically describe the ageing and wet deposition of mineral dust. Independent of the dust emission scheme the five-year simulations with the horizontal resolutions T42 and T63 produc…
A complex case study of down to the surface intrusions of persistent stratospheric air over the Eastern Mediterranean
Abstract In this study, we present a complex case study of concurrent stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT) events down to the surface of a low topography region in Northern Greece, which occurred in spring 2000. Two surface stations at Livadi (850 m asl) and Thessaloniki (20 m asl) were influenced by intrusions of stratospheric air masses that persisted for a time period from 7 to 10 days within the troposphere before reaching the stations. Before reaching the surface stations in Greece, the air masses crossed the tropopause in different synoptic systems over Eastern Europe, N. America and the N. Atlantic. This is the first study, to our knowledge, that presents a down to the surface…
ML-CIRRUS: The Airborne Experiment on Natural Cirrus and Contrail Cirrus with the High-Altitude Long-Range Research Aircraft HALO
Abstract The Midlatitude Cirrus experiment (ML-CIRRUS) deployed the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) to obtain new insights into nucleation, life cycle, and climate impact of natural cirrus and aircraft-induced contrail cirrus. Direct observations of cirrus properties and their variability are still incomplete, currently limiting our understanding of the clouds’ impact on climate. Also, dynamical effects on clouds and feedbacks are not adequately represented in today’s weather prediction models. Here, we present the rationale, objectives, and selected scientific highlights of ML-CIRRUS using the G-550 aircraft of the German atmospheric science community. The first combi…
Multi-model simulations of a convective situation in low-mountain terrain in central Europe
The goal of the present study is to investigate the variability of simulated convective precipitation by three convection-resolving models using different set-ups and initial and boundary conditions. The COSMO, MM5 and WRF models have been used to simulate the atmospheric situation on 12 July 2006, when local convection occurred in central Europe under weak synoptic forcing. The focus of this investigation is on the convective precipitation in the northern Black Forest in South-West Germany. The precipitation fields from the nine model simulations differ considerably. Six simulations capture the convective character of the event. However, they differ considerably in the location and timing …
A Lagrangian Climatology of Tropical Moisture Exports to the Northern Hemispheric Extratropics
Abstract Case studies have shown that heavy precipitation events and rapid cyclogenesis in the extratropics can be fueled by moist and warm tropical air masses. Often the tropical moisture export (TME) occurs through a longitudinally confined region in the subtropics. Here a comprehensive climatological analysis of TME is constructed on the basis of seven-day forward trajectories started daily from the tropical lower troposphere using 6-hourly 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) data from the 23-year period 1979–2001. The objective TME identification procedure retains only those trajectories that reach a water vapor flux of at least 100 g kg−1 m s−1 somewhere north of 35°N. The results show fo…
The 1-way on-line coupled atmospheric chemistry model system MECO(n) – Part 3: Meteorological evaluation of the on-line coupled system
Abstract. Three detailed meteorological case studies are conducted with the global and regional atmospheric chemistry model system ECHAM5/MESSy(→COSMO/MESSy)n, shortly named MECO(n), in order to assess the general performance of the on-line coupling of the regional model COSMO to the global model ECHAM5. The cases are characterised by intense weather systems in Central Europe: an intense cold frontal passage in March 2010, a convective frontal event in July 2007, and the high impact winter storm "Kyrill" in January 2007. Simulations are performed with the new on-line-coupled model system and compared to classical, off-line COSMO hindcast simulations driven by ECMWF analyses. Precipitation o…
Strong influence of lowermost stratospheric ozone on lower tropospheric background ozone changes over Europe
[1] Using ozone measurements from two sounding sites and two high-altitude stations in Central Europe, we show evidence for a dominant influence of changes in lowermost stratospheric ozone on the variability and overall upward trend of background ozone in the lower troposphere (3000–3500 m asl) during the 1992–2004 period. Numerical simulations with a stratospheric chemistry transport model suggest that changes in lower stratospheric ozone were driven by dynamics rather than by changes in stratospheric chlorine loading. In addition, Lagrangian model simulations indicate that changes in downward transport of ozone from the stratosphere into the troposphere were dominated by changes in lowerm…
Lagrangian simulations of stable isotopes in water vapor: An evaluation of nonequilibrium fractionation in the Craig-Gordon model
[1] The Craig-Gordon model is the basis for the parameterization of water isotope fractionation during evaporation from the ocean in many atmospheric isotope models. Its exact formulation (e.g., with respect to the nonequilibrium fractionation factor k) is mainly based on theoretical considerations and not very well constrained by observations. This study addresses this issue by combining a recently developed Lagrangian moisture source analysis with a Craig-Gordon fractionation parameterization for the identified evaporation events in order to model isotope ratios in water vapor. This technique is applied to 45 measurement days of isotopes in water vapor at Rehovot (Israel) during the years…
Detection, tracking and event localization of jet stream features in 4-D atmospheric data
We introduce a novel algorithm for the efficient detection and tracking of features in spatiotemporal atmospheric data, as well as for the precise localization of the occurring genesis, lysis, merging and splitting events. The algorithm works on data given on a four-dimensional structured grid. Feature selection and clustering are based on adjustable local and global criteria, feature tracking is predominantly based on spatial overlaps of the feature's full volumes. The resulting 3-D features and the identified correspondences between features of consecutive time steps are represented as the nodes and edges of a directed acyclic graph, the event graph. Merging and splitting events appear in…
Spatial Forecast Verification Methods Intercomparison Project: Application of the SAL Technique
Abstract In this study, a recently introduced feature-based quality measure called SAL, which provides information about the structure, amplitude, and location of a quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) in a prespecified domain, is applied to different sets of synthetic and realistic QPFs in the United States. The focus is on a detailed discussion of selected cases and on the comparison of the verification results obtained with SAL and some classical gridpoint-based error measures. For simple geometric precipitation objects it is shown that SAL adequately captures errors in the size and location of the objects, however, not in their orientation. The artificially modified (so-called fake…
SAL—A Novel Quality Measure for the Verification of Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts
Abstract A novel object-based quality measure, which contains three distinct components that consider aspects of the structure (S), amplitude (A), and location (L) of the precipitation field in a prespecified domain (e.g., a river catchment) is introduced for the verification of quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF). This quality measure is referred to as SAL. The amplitude component A measures the relative deviation of the domain-averaged QPF from observations. Positive values of A indicate an overestimation of total precipitation; negative values indicate an underestimation. For the components S and L, coherent precipitation objects are separately identified in the forecast and obser…
Tropopause level Rossby wave breaking in the Northern Hemisphere: a feature-based validation of the ECHAM5-HAM climate model
Breaking synoptic-scale Rossby waves (RWB) at the tropopause level are central to the daily weather evolution in the extratropics and the subtropics. RWB leads to pronounced meridional transport of heat, moisture, momentum, and chemical constituents. RWB events are manifest as elongated and narrow structures in the tropopause-level potential vorticity (PV) field. A feature-based validation approach is used to assess the representation of Northern Hemisphere RWB in present-day climate simulations carried out with the ECHAM5-HAM climate model at three different resolutions (T42L19, T63L31, and T106L31) against the ERA-40 reanalysis data set. An objective identification algorithm extracts RWB …
Deep stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT) over SE Europe: a complex case study captured by enhanced <sup>7</sup>Be concentrations at the surface of a low topography region
Abstract. In this study we present a complex case study of a Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Transport (STT) event down to the surface of a low topography region in Northern Greece, during the second fortnight of March 2000. During this event our surface station at Livadi (23°15 E/40°32 N, 850 m a.s.l.), was influenced by very different synoptic systems developing over Eastern Europe, N. America and the N. Atlantic, the last one evolving to a cut-off low over France/Spain. This is the first study, to our knowledge, that presents a down to the surface STT event in the eastern Mediterranean. The intrusion is primarily captured with the use of the cosmogenic radionuclide 7Be, which increased to 9.…
The transatlantic dust transport from North Africa to the Americas-Its characteristics and source regions
Transport of Saharan dust over the Atlantic to the Americas is a relevant process since dust is a nutrient for marine and terrestrial ecosystems. It is therefore important to better quantify the frequency and amount of transatlantic dust transport, its preferred altitude and duration, and the regions of dust origin. This study uses a novel combination of Eulerian and Lagrangian diagnostics, applied to a previously validated 5 year simulation of the fifth generation European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast-Hamburg-model (ECHAM5)/Modular Earth Submodel System (MEESy) Atmospheric Chemistry model, to quantify these dust transport characteristics and their seasonal variations. Results c…
Surface Cyclones in the ERA-40 Dataset (1958–2001). Part I: Novel Identification Method and Global Climatology
Abstract A novel method is introduced to generate climatological frequency distributions of meteorological features from gridded datasets. The method is used here to derive a climatology of extratropical cyclones from sea level pressure (SLP) fields. A simple and classical conception of cyclones is adopted where a cyclone is identified as the finite area that surrounds a local SLP minimum and is enclosed by the outermost closed SLP contour. This cyclone identification procedure can be applied to individual time instants, and climatologies of cyclone frequency, fc, are obtained by simple time averaging. Therefore, unlike most other climatologies, the method is not based on the application of…
Comparison of ERA40 cloud top phase with POLDER-1 observations
[1] A detailed grid-point-based comparison of the cloud top phase derived from the 40-year reanalyses (ERA40) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with satellite measurements is presented. For this purpose an algorithm is implemented to extract a two-dimensional “satellite-like” field of the cloud top phase from ERA40 data. This field is compared with cloud top phase data from the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth Reflectances (POLDER-1) instrument which was in orbit from November 1996 to June 1997. The thermodynamic cloud phase in ERA40 data is parameterized as a function of temperature with pure liquid clouds above 0°C, pure ice clouds below −23°C a…
Observations of meteoric material and implications for aerosol nucleation in the winter Arctic lower stratosphere derived from in situ particle measurements
Number concentrations of total and non-volatile aerosol particles with size diameters >0.01 μm as well as particle size distributions (0.4–23 μm diameter) were measured in situ in the Arctic lower stratosphere (10–20.5 km altitude). The measurements were obtained during the campaigns European Polar Stratospheric Cloud and Lee Wave Experiment (EUPLEX) and Envisat-Arctic-Validation (EAV). The campaigns were based in Kiruna, Sweden, and took place from January to March 2003. Measurements were conducted onboard the Russian high-altitude research aircraft Geophysica using the low-pressure Condensation Nucleus Counter COPAS (COndensation PArticle Counter System) and a modified F…
Stratosphere-troposphere exchange: A review, and what we have learned from STACCATO
[1] This paper provides a review of stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE), with a focus on processes in the extratropics. It also addresses the relevance of STE for tropospheric chemistry, particularly its influence on the oxidative capacity of the troposphere. After summarizing the current state of knowledge, the objectives of the project Influence of Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange in a Changing Climate on Atmospheric Transport and Oxidation Capacity (STACCATO), recently funded by the European Union, are outlined. Several papers in this Journal of Geophysical Research– Atmospheres special section present the results of this project, of which this paper gives an overview. STACCATO deve…
IWAL–An Interactive Weather Analysis Laboratory
Abstract Complementary key elements of meteorological education are the provision of a thorough theoretical understanding of the physical laws governing atmospheric motions, and the hands-on investigation and visualization of specific weather systems. However, the latter task is technically challenging, because specific skills must be acquired for flexibly handling meteorological data. Some examples are superimposing satellite pictures and reanalysis fields, producing an isentropic potential vorticity (PV) map, and visualizing a vertical section across a flow feature of interest. Although learning these technical issues has its own merits, it can distract students from investigating the com…
Analysis of a jet stream induced gravity wave associated with an observed ice cloud over Greenland
International audience; A polar stratospheric ice cloud (PSC type II) was observed by airborne lidar above Greenland on 14 January 2000. It was the unique observation of an ice cloud over Greenland during the SOLVE/THESEO 2000 campaign. Mesoscale simulations with the hydrostatic HRM model are presented which, in contrast to global analyses, are capable to produce a vertically propagating gravity wave that induces the low temperatures at the level of the PSC afforded for the ice formation. The simulated minimum temperature is ~8 K below the driving analyses and ~4.5 K below the frost point, exactly coinciding with the location of the observed ice cloud. Despite the high elevations of the Gre…
Transport timescales and tracer properties in the extratropical UTLS
A comprehensive evaluation of seasonal backward trajectories initialized in the northern hemisphere lowermost stratosphere (LMS) has been performed to investigate the factors that determine the temporal and spatial structure of troposphere-to-stratosphere-transport (TST) and it's impact on the LMS. In particular we explain the fundamental role of the transit time since last TST (tTST) for the chemical composition of the LMS. According to our results the structure of the LMS can be characterized by a layer with tTST<40 days forming a narrow band around the local tropopause. This layer extends about 30 K above the local dynamical tropopause, corresponding to the extratropical tropopause trans…
The importance of stratospheric–tropospheric transport in affecting surface ozone concentrations in the western and northern tier of the United States
Stratospheric–tropospheric exchange (STE) processes contribute at both high and low-elevation monitoring sites to background ozone (O3) concentrations. This study addresses the importance of stratospheric intrusions contributing to enhanced hourly average surface O3 concentrations (i.e., ≥50 ppb) at 12 O3 monitoring stations in the western and northern tier of the US for 2006, 2007, and 2008. The Lagrangian Analysis Tool (LAGRANTO) trajectory model identified specific days when stratosphere-to-troposphere transport was optimal to elevate surface O3 levels. The coincidences between the number of days with a daily maximum hourly average O3 concentration ≥ 50 ppb and stratosphere-to-tropospher…
A new windstorm proxy from lake sediments: A comparison of geological and meteorological data from western Germany for the period 1965–2001
[1] The feasibility of detecting windstorm layers in lake sediments is explored by comparing quartz grain size data from a freeze core obtained from the Schalkenmehrener Maar (Eifel region, western Germany) to recent meteorological wind data. The Schalkenmehrener Maar is appropriate for such a calibration study because the morphological settings of the lake allow the conservation of windstorm layers (in particular, there is no fluvial sediment inflow) and long-term wind measurements are available from nearby stations. The age model for the uppermost 30 cm of the sediment core is based on measurements of 137Cs and 210Pb concentrations. An ultra-high-resolution grain size analysis is performe…
Dehydration potential of ultrathin clouds at the tropical tropopause
[1] We report on the first simultaneous in situ and remote measurements of subvisible cirrus in the uppermost tropical troposphere. The observed cirrus, called UTTCs ( ultrathin tropical tropopause clouds), are the geometrically (200-300 m) and optically (t approximate to 10(-4)) thinnest large-scale clouds ever sampled (approximate to10(5) km(2)). UTTCs consist of only a few ice particles per liter with mean radius approximate to5 mum, containing only 1-5 % of the total water. Yet, brief adiabatic cooling events only 1-2 K below mean ambient temperature destabilize UTTCs, leading to large sedimenting particles (r approximate to 25 mm). Due to their extreme altitude above 17 km and low part…
The transport history of two Saharan dust events archived in an Alpine ice core
Mineral dust from the Saharan desert can be transported across the Mediterranean towards the Alpine region several times a year. When coinciding with snowfall, the dust can be deposited on Alpine glaciers and then appears as yellow or red layers in ice cores. Two such significant dust events were identified in an ice core drilled at the high-accumulation site Piz Zupó in the Swiss Alps (46°22' N, 9°55' E, 3850 m a.s.l.). From stable oxygen isotopes and major ion concentrations, the events were approximately dated as October and March 2000. In order to link the dust record in the ice core to the meteorological situation that led to the dust events, a novel methodology based on b…
A case study on the formation and evolution of ice supersaturation in the vicinity of a warm conveyor belt\'s outflow region
A case study is presented on the formation and evolution of an ice-supersaturated region (ISSR) that was detected by a radiosonde in NE Germany at 06:00 UTC 29 November 2000. The ISSR was situated in the vicinity of the outflow region of a warm conveyor belt associated with an intense event of cyclogenesis in the eastern North Atlantic. Using ECMWF analyses and trajectory calculations it is determined when the air parcels became supersaturated and later subsaturated again. In the case considered, the state of air parcel supersaturation can last for longer than 24h. The ISSR was unusually thick: while the mean vertical extension of ISSRs in NE Germany is about 500m, the one investigated here…
Seasonal cycles and variability of O&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt; and H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O in the UT/LMS during SPURT
Abstract. Airborne high resolution in situ measurements of a large set of trace gases including ozone (O3) and total water (H2O) in the upper troposphere and the lowermost stratosphere (UT/LMS) have been performed above Europe within the SPURT project. With its innovative campaign concept, SPURT provides an extensive data coverage of the UT/LMS in each season within the time period between November 2001 and July 2003. Ozone volume mixing ratios in the LMS show a distinct spring maximum and autumn minimum, whereas the O3 seasonal cycle in the UT is shifted by 2 to 3 month later towards the end of the year. The more variable H2O measurements reveal a maximum during spring/summer and a minimum…
A composite study on the structure and formation of ozone miniholes and minihighs over central Europe
[1] Two different mechanisms have been proposed to be important for the formation of extreme total ozone events in mid-latitudes, so-called miniholes: (A) far-range meridional transport of air masses from regions with different climatological ozone mixing ratios, and (B) (local) adiabatic vertical displacement of isentropes. Here, the relative importance of these two mechanisms is studied using two different ozone profile reconstruction techniques for all miniholes and minihighs (events with anomalously high ozone) during the time period 1980–1989 over Switzerland. Composites for the two types of events of their vertical potential vorticity (PV) reveal a vertical dipole structure of PV anom…
Air parcel trajectory analysis of stable isotopes in water vapor in the eastern Mediterranean
[1] With the help of a Lagrangian moisture source diagnostic, linkages between stable isotope measurements in water vapor in Rehovot (Israel), with typical sampling times of 8 hours, and the meteorological conditions in the evaporation regions are established. These linkages can be formulated in quantitative terms, and are also quantitatively comparable with other data from isotope measurements over the ocean and with simple theoretical calculations. On the one hand, a strong negative correlation (r = −0.82) between relative humidity with respect to sea surface temperature in the source regions and measured deuterium excess (d) is found, corroborating results from isotope global circulation…
Sampling of an STT event over the Eastern Mediterranean region by lidar and electrochemical sonde
A two-wavelength ultraviolet (289–316nm) ozone Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system is used to perform ozone measurements in the free troposphere in the Eastern Mediterranean (Northern Greece). The ozone DIAL profiles obtained during a Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Transport (STT) event are compared to that acquired by an electrochemical ozonesonde, in the altitude range between 2 and 10 km. The measurement accuracy of these two instruments is also discussed. The mean difference between the ozone profiles obtained by the two techniques is of the order of 1.11 ppbv (1.86%), while the corresponding standard deviation is 4.69 ppbv (8.16%). A case study of an STT event which occurred on 29…
A trajectory-based classification of ERA-Interim ice clouds in the region of the North Atlantic storm track
A two-type classification of ice clouds (cirrus) is introduced, based on the liquid and ice water content, LWC and IWC, along air parcel backward trajectories from the clouds. In situ cirrus has no LWC along the trajectory segment containing IWC; it forms via nucleation from the gas phase. In contrast, liquid-origin cirrus has both LWC and IWC along their backward trajectories; it forms via lifting from the lower troposphere and freezing of mixed-phase clouds. This classification is applied to 12 years of ERA-Interim ice clouds in the North Atlantic region. Between 400 and 500 hPa more than 50% are liquid-origin cirrus, whereas this frequency decreases strongly with altitude (<10% at 200 hP…
Microphysical and radiative changes in cirrus clouds by geoengineering the stratosphere
[1] In the absence of tangible progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the implementation of solar radiation management has been suggested as measure to stop global warming. Here we investigate the impacts on northern midlatitude cirrus from continuous SO2emissions of 2–10 Mt/a in the tropical stratosphere. Transport of geoengineering aerosols into the troposphere was calculated along trajectories based on ERA Interim reanalyses using ozone concentrations to quantify the degree of mixing of stratospheric and tropospheric air termed “troposphericity”. Modeled size distributions of the geoengineered H2SO4-H2O droplets have been fed into a cirrus box model with spectral microphysics. Th…
Classification of precipitation events with a convective response timescale and their forecasting characteristics
[1] The convective timescale τc, which is mainly determined by the ratio of CAPE and precipitation rate, provides a physically-based measure to distinguish equilibrium and non-equilibrium convection. A statistical analysis of this timescale, based upon observational data from radiosonde ascents, rain gauges, and radar for seven warm seasons in Germany, reveals that the equilibrium and non-equilibrium regimes can be regarded as extremes of a continuous distribution. The two regimes characterize very different interactions between the large-scale flow and convection. The quality of precipitation forecasts from a non-hydrostatic regional weather prediction model with parameterized convection d…
Sources of water vapour contributing to the Elbe flood in August 2002-A tagging study in a mesoscale model
In this study we investigate the contribution of various moisture sources to the Elbe flood that occurred in Central Europe during August 2002. An 8-day simulation with the mesoscale numerical weather prediction model CHRM, including newly implemented water vapour tracers, has been performed. According to the simulation, rather than drawing moisture from one single dominant source region, water vapour from widely separated moisture sources contributed to the extreme precipitation in the most affected area, notably at distinct, subsequent periods of time, and each in significant amounts. These moisture sources include the Atlantic and Mediterranean ocean areas inside the model domain, evapot…
Pollution patterns in the upper troposphere over Europe and Asia observed by CARIBIC
Abstract Between May 2005 and March 2008 the CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container) observatory was deployed to make atmospheric observations on 42 flights between Frankfurt, Germany and Manila, the Philippines. This nearly 3 year flight series provides information about atmospheric composition in the upper troposphere over Europe and Asia during all seasons and was used to investigate seasonal and regional differences in trace gas distributions and the influence of long range transport and local convection on composition. The flight route was separated into three different regions having characteristic differences in transp…