Response of stratospheric water vapor and ozone to the unusual timing of El Niño and the QBO disruption in 2015–2016

Diallo, Mohamadou; Riese, Martin; Birner, Thomas; Konopka, Paul; Müller, Rolf; Hegglin, Michaela I.; Santee, Michelle L.; Baldwin, Mark; Legras, Bernard; Ploeger, Felix

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13055-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 17

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13055-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Water vapour in the upper troposphere and middle atmosphere:...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13055-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 17

Research article

|

11 Sep 2018

Research article |

| 11 Sep 2018

Response of stratospheric water vapor and ozone to the unusual timing of El Niño and the QBO disruption in 2015–2016

Mohamadou Diallo, Martin Riese, Thomas Birner, Paul Konopka, Rolf Müller, Michaela I. Hegglin, Michelle L. Santee, Mark Baldwin, Bernard Legras, and Felix Ploeger

Data sets

Aura Microwave Limb Sounder product FES DISC https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets?page=1&source=AURA%20MLS

ERA-Interim reanalysis dat ECMWF https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/archive-datasets/reanalysis-datasets/era-interim

Short summary

The unprecedented timing of an El Niño event aligned with the disrupted QBO in 2015–2016 caused a perturbation to the stratospheric circulation, affecting trace gases. This paper resolves the puzzling response of the lower stratospheric water vapor by showing that the QBO disruption reversed the lower stratosphere moistening triggered by the alignment of the El Niño event with a westerly QBO in early boreal winter.