In situ observations of CH2Cl2 and CHCl3 show efficient transport pathways for very short-lived species into the lower stratosphere via the Asian and the North American summer monsoon

Lauther, Valentin; Vogel, Bärbel; Wintel, Johannes; Rau, Andrea; Hoor, Peter; Bense, Vera; Müller, Rolf; Volk, C. Michael

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2049-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2049-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

WISE: Wave-driven isentropic exchange in the extratropical...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2049-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 3

Research article

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14 Feb 2022

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 14 Feb 2022

In situ observations of CH₂Cl₂ and CHCl₃ show efficient transport pathways for very short-lived species into the lower stratosphere via the Asian and the North American summer monsoon

Valentin Lauther, Bärbel Vogel, Johannes Wintel, Andrea Rau, Peter Hoor, Vera Bense, Rolf Müller, and C. Michael Volk

Data sets

HALO database K.-D. Gottschaldt and M. Rapp https://doi.org/10.17616/R39Q0T

The ALE/GAGE/AGAGE Network (DB1001) R. Prinn, R. Weiss, P. Krummel, S. O'Doherty, and J. Muhle https://doi.org/10.3334/CDIAC/ATG.DB1001

The ERA-Interim archive Version 2.0 P. Berrisford, D. P. Dee, P. Poli, R. Brugge, M. Fielding, M. Fuentes, P. W. Kållberg, S. Kobayashi, S. Uppala, and A. Simmons https://www.ecmwf.int/node/8174

Short summary

We show airborne in situ measurements of the very short-lived ozone-depleting substances CH₂Cl₂ and CHCl₃, revealing particularly high concentrations of both species in the lower stratosphere. Back-trajectory calculations and 3D model simulations show that the air masses with high concentrations originated in the Asian boundary layer and were transported via the Asian summer monsoon. We also identify a fast transport pathway into the stratosphere via the North American monsoon and by hurricanes.