Identification

Title

Mechanisms responsible for stratosphere‐to‐troposphere transport around a mesoscale convective system anvil

Abstract

Recent observational studies have shown that stratospheric air rich in ozone (O-3) is capable of being transported into the upper troposphere in association with tropopause-penetrating convection (anvil wrapping). This finding challenges the current understanding of upper tropospheric sources of O-3, which is traditionally thought to come from thunderstorm outflows where lightning-generated nitrogen oxides facilitate O-3 formation. Since tropospheric O-3 is an important greenhouse gas and the frequency and strength of tropopause-penetrating storms may change in a changing climate, it is important to understand the mechanisms driving this transport process so that it can be better represented in chemistry-climate models. Simulations of a mesoscale convective system (MCS) around which this transport process was observed are performed using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry model adequately simulates anvil wrapping of ozone-rich air. Possible mechanisms that influence the transport, including small-scale static and dynamic instabilities and MCS-induced mesoscale circulations, are evaluated. Model results suggest that anvil wrapping is a two-step transport process (1) compensating subsidence surrounding the MCS, which is driven by mass conservation as the MCS transports tropospheric air into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, followed by (2) differential advection beneath the core of the MCS upper-tropospheric outflow jet which wraps high O-3 air around and under the MCS cloud anvil. Static and dynamic instabilities are not a leading contributor to this transport process. Continued fine-scale modeling of these events is needed to fully represent the stratosphere-to-troposphere transport process.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7bk1gmb

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-05-27T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact