Articles | Volume 17, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6113-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6113-2017
© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
17 May 2017
Research article |
| 17 May 2017
Enhanced stratospheric water vapor over the summertime continental United States and the role of overshooting convection
Robert L. Herman
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
Eric A. Ray
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System
Research Laboratory (ESRL) Chemical Sciences Division, Boulder, Colorado,
USA
Karen H. Rosenlof
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Earth System
Research Laboratory (ESRL) Chemical Sciences Division, Boulder, Colorado,
USA
Kristopher M. Bedka
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA
Michael J. Schwartz
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
William G. Read
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
Robert F. Troy
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
Keith Chin
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
Lance E. Christensen
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
Dejian Fu
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
Robert A. Stachnik
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, California, USA
T. Paul Bui
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA
Jonathan M. Dean-Day
Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Sonoma, California, USA
Data sets
SEAC4RS DOI O. Toon et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/Aircraft/SEAC4RS/Aerosol-TraceGas-Cloud
Short summary
This study reports new aircraft field observations of elevated water vapor greater than 10 ppmv in the overworld stratosphere over the summertime continental US. Back trajectories from the flight track intersect overshooting convective tops within the previous 1 to 7 days, suggesting that ice is convectively and irreversibly transported to the stratosphere in the most energetic overshooting convective events. Satellite measurements (Aura MLS) indicate that such events are uncommon (< 1 %).
This study reports new aircraft field observations of elevated water vapor greater than 10 ppmv...
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