Articles | Volume 21, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8393-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8393-2021
Research article
 | 
02 Jun 2021
Research article |  | 02 Jun 2021

The stratospheric Brewer–Dobson circulation inferred from age of air in the ERA5 reanalysis

Felix Ploeger, Mohamadou Diallo, Edward Charlesworth, Paul Konopka, Bernard Legras, Johannes C. Laube, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Gebhard Günther, Andreas Engel, and Martin Riese

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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Cited articles

Abalos, M., Legras, B., Ploeger, F., , and Randel, W. J.: Evaluating the advective Brewer-Dobson circulation in three reanalyses for the period 1979–2012, J. Geophys. Res., 120, 7534–7554, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023182, 2015. a, b, c, d
Abalos, M., Shuckburgh, E., and Legras, B.: Interannual variability in effective diffusivity in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere from reanalysis data, Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 142, 1847–1861, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2779, 2017. a
Andrews, D. G., Holton, J. R., and Leovy, C. B.: Middle Atmosphere Dynamics, Academic Press, San Diego, USA, 1987. a, b
Birner, T. and Bönisch, H.: Residual circulation trajectories and transit times into the extratropical lowermost stratosphere, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 817–827, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-817-2011, 2011. a, b
Bönisch, H., Engel, A., Curtius, J., Birner, Th., and Hoor, P.: Quantifying transport into the lowermost stratosphere using simultaneous in-situ measurements of SF6 and CO2, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 5905–5919, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-5905-2009, 2009. a
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We investigate the global stratospheric circulation (Brewer–Dobson circulation) in the new ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis based on age of air simulations, and we compare it to results from the preceding ERA-Interim reanalysis. Our results show a slower stratospheric circulation and higher age for ERA5. The age of air trend in ERA5 over the 1989–2018 period is negative throughout the stratosphere, related to multi-annual variability and a potential contribution from changes in the reanalysis system.
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