Articles | Volume 24, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4193-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4193-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
09 Apr 2024
Research article |
| 09 Apr 2024
| 09 Apr 2024
Correction of stratospheric age of air (AoA) derived from sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) for the effect of chemical sinks
Hella Garny
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Meteorological Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
Roland Eichinger
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Department of Atmospheric Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
Johannes C. Laube
Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung (IEK-7), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
Eric A. Ray
Chemical Sciences Division, Earth Systems Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Gabriele P. Stiller
Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Harald Bönisch
Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Laura Saunders
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Marianna Linz
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Related authors
Frederik Harzer, Hella Garny, Felix Ploeger, J. Moritz Menken, and Thomas Birner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2195, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2195, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We study ozone transport in the extratropical lowermost stratosphere using potential temperature as vertical coordinate, thereby distinguishing adiabatic and diabatic processes. We find that on top of known dominant transport processes (quasi-horizontal mixing, slow diabatic descent) vertical mixing plays an important role near the tropopause. Our findings are relevant for understanding ozone's role in climate including its imprint on tropospheric ozone via stratosphere-troposphere air exchange.
Laura N. Saunders, Kaley A. Walker, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Florian Haenel, Hella Garny, Harald Bönisch, Chris D. Boone, Ariana E. Castillo, Andreas Engel, Johannes C. Laube, Marianna Linz, Felix Ploeger, David A. Plummer, Eric A. Ray, and Patrick E. Sheese
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4185–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4185-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 17-year stratospheric age-of-air dataset derived from ACE-FTS satellite measurements of sulfur hexafluoride. This is the longest continuous, global, and vertically resolved age of air time series available to date. In this paper, we show that this dataset agrees well with age-of-air datasets based on measurements from other instruments. We also present trends in the midlatitude lower stratosphere that indicate changes in the global circulation that are predicted by climate models.
Eric A. Ray, Fred L. Moore, Hella Garny, Eric J. Hintsa, Bradley D. Hall, Geoff S. Dutton, David Nance, James W. Elkins, Steven C. Wofsy, Jasna Pittman, Bruce Daube, Bianca C. Baier, Jianghanyang Li, and Colm Sweeney
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12425–12445, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12425-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12425-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we describe new techniques to derive age of air from multiple simultaneous measurements of long-lived trace gases in order to improve the fidelity of the age-of-air estimates and to be able to compare age of air from measurements taken from different instruments, platforms and decades. This technique also allows new transport information to be obtained from the measurements such as the primary source latitude that can also be compared to models.
Ryan S. Williams, Michaela I. Hegglin, Patrick Jöckel, Hella Garny, and Keith P. Shine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1389–1413, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1389-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1389-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
During winter, a brief but abrupt reversal of the mean stratospheric westerly flow (~30 km high) around the Arctic occurs ~6 times a decade. Using a chemistry–climate model, about half of these events are shown to induce large anomalies in Arctic ozone (>25 %) and water vapour (>±25 %) around ~8–12 km altitude for up to 2–3 months, important for weather forecasting. We also calculate a doubling to trebling of the risk in breaches of mid-latitude surface air quality (ozone) standards (~60 ppbv).
Roland Eichinger, Sebastian Rhode, Hella Garny, Peter Preusse, Petr Pisoft, Aleš Kuchař, Patrick Jöckel, Astrid Kerkweg, and Bastian Kern
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5561–5583, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5561-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5561-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The columnar approach of gravity wave (GW) schemes results in dynamical model biases, but parallel decomposition makes horizontal GW propagation computationally unfeasible. In the global model EMAC, we approximate it by GW redistribution at one altitude using tailor-made redistribution maps generated with a ray tracer. More spread-out GW drag helps reconcile the model with observations and close the 60°S GW gap. Polar vortex dynamics are improved, enhancing climate model credibility.
Frederik Harzer, Hella Garny, Felix Ploeger, Harald Bönisch, Peter Hoor, and Thomas Birner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10661–10675, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10661-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10661-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study the statistical relation between year-by-year fluctuations in winter-mean ozone and the strength of the stratospheric polar vortex. In the latitude–pressure plane, regression analysis shows that anomalously weak polar vortex years are associated with three pronounced local ozone maxima over the polar cap relative to the winter climatology. These response maxima primarily reflect the non-trivial combination of different ozone transport processes with varying relative contributions.
Matthias Nützel, Sabine Brinkop, Martin Dameris, Hella Garny, Patrick Jöckel, Laura L. Pan, and Mijeong Park
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15659–15683, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15659-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15659-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
During the Asian summer monsoon season, a large high-pressure system is present at levels close to the tropopause above Asia. We analyse how air masses are transported from surface levels to this high-pressure system, which shows distinct features from the surrounding air masses. To this end, we employ multiannual data from two complementary models that allow us to analyse the climatology as well as the interannual and intraseasonal variability of these transport pathways.
Felix Ploeger and Hella Garny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5559–5576, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5559-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate hemispheric asymmetries in stratospheric circulation changes in the last 2 decades in model simulations and atmospheric observations. We find that observed trace gas changes can be explained by a structural circulation change related to a deepening circulation in the Northern Hemisphere relative to the Southern Hemisphere. As this asymmetric signal is small compared to internal variability observed circulation trends over the recent past are not in contradiction to climate models.
Sheena Loeffel, Roland Eichinger, Hella Garny, Thomas Reddmann, Frauke Fritsch, Stefan Versick, Gabriele Stiller, and Florian Haenel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1175–1193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1175-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1175-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
SF6-derived trends of stratospheric AoA from observations and model simulations disagree in sign. SF6 experiences chemical degradation, which we explicitly integrate in a global climate model. In our simulations, the AoA trend changes sign when SF6 sinks are considered; thus, the process has the potential to reconcile simulated with observed AoA trends. We show that the positive AoA trend is due to the SF6 sinks themselves and provide a first approach for a correction to account for SF6 loss.
Marta Abalos, Natalia Calvo, Samuel Benito-Barca, Hella Garny, Steven C. Hardiman, Pu Lin, Martin B. Andrews, Neal Butchart, Rolando Garcia, Clara Orbe, David Saint-Martin, Shingo Watanabe, and Kohei Yoshida
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13571–13591, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13571-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13571-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The stratospheric Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC), responsible for transporting mass, tracers and heat globally in the stratosphere, is evaluated in a set of state-of-the-art climate models. The acceleration of the BDC in response to increasing greenhouse gases is most robust in the lower stratosphere. At higher levels, the well-known inconsistency between model and observational BDC trends can be partly reconciled by accounting for limited sampling and large uncertainties in the observations.
Simone Dietmüller, Hella Garny, Roland Eichinger, and William T. Ball
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6811–6837, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6811-2021, 2021
Hella Garny, Roland Walz, Matthias Nützel, and Thomas Birner
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 5229–5257, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5229-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5229-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Numerical models of Earth's climate system have been gaining more and more complexity over the last decades. Therefore, it is important to establish simplified models to improve process understanding. In our study, we present and document the development of a new simplified model setup within the framework of a complex climate model system that uses the same routines to calculate atmospheric dynamics as the complex model but is simplified in the representation of clouds and radiation.
Johannes C. Laube, Tanja J. Schuck, Sophie Baartman, Huilin Chen, Markus Geldenhuys, Steven van Heuven, Timo Keber, Maria Elena Popa, Elinor Tuffnell, Florian Voet, Bärbel Vogel, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Alessandro Zanchetta, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 4087–4102, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4087-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A large balloon was launched in summer 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas measurements up to 32 km, above the reach of aircraft. The main aims were to evaluate different techniques and atmospheric processes. We focus on halogenated greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances. For this, air was collected with the AirCore technique and a cryogenic air sampler and measured after the flight. A companion paper reports observations of major greenhouse gases.
Sarah Vervalcke, Quentin Errera, Simon Chabrillat, Marc Op de beeck, Thomas Reddmann, Gabriele Stiller, Roland Eichinger, and Emmanuel Mahieu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3597, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3597, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents three simulations of atmospheric chemistry with the BASCOE model, driven by different meteorological data sets. These simulations include newly implemented SF6 chemistry, useful for stratospheric transport studies. Results compare well with satellite observations. The lifetime of six trace gases is computed and agrees with the literature, but SF6 shows larger sensitivity to the choice of meteorology. The lifetime of SF6 ranges from 1900 to 2600 years.
Jezabel Curbelo and Marianna Linz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7941–7957, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7941-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7941-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Studying stratospheric mixing is crucial for understanding atmospheric dynamics and chemical transport. We propose a new Lagrangian metric based on the density of transport barriers, attracting/repelling coherent structures, to analyze mixing in the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model. Our metric is a promising tool for stratospheric analysis, consistent with commonly used metrics to quantify mixing while also providing the advantage of reflecting Lagrangian transport in physical latitude.
Norbert Glatthor, Thomas von Clarmann, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Gabriele P. Stiller, Bernd Funke, Maya Garcia-Comas, Manuel Lopez-Puertas, Oliver Kirner, and Michelle L. Santee
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3352, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3352, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a global climatology of MIPAS version 8 chlorine monoxide (ClO), retrieved from spaceborne observations between 2002 and 2012. Due to an improved retrieval setup, the high bias and poor vertical resolution of upper stratospheric ClO, which had affected the previous V5 data set, has been removed. Comparisons with ClO observations of the Microwave Limb Sounder generally show good agreement. Differences can be explained by simulations with an atmospheric chemistry model.
Pengfei Yu, Yifeng Peng, Karen H. Rosenlof, Ru-Shan Gao, Robert W. Portmann, Martin Ross, Eric Ray, Jianchun Bian, Simone Tilmes, and Owen B. Toon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2312, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2312, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) at 50 km improves climate intervention by reducing global cooling by 22 % and polar cooling by 40 %, preserving Arctic sea ice 20 % more effectively than traditional 25-km SAI. It also reduces Antarctic ozone depletion, shortening recovery delay from 25–55 years to about 5 years. Additionally, SAI at 50 km halves tropical lower stratospheric warming, minimizing disruptions to stratospheric water vapor and jet streams compared to the 25-km method.
Frederik Harzer, Hella Garny, Felix Ploeger, J. Moritz Menken, and Thomas Birner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2195, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2195, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We study ozone transport in the extratropical lowermost stratosphere using potential temperature as vertical coordinate, thereby distinguishing adiabatic and diabatic processes. We find that on top of known dominant transport processes (quasi-horizontal mixing, slow diabatic descent) vertical mixing plays an important role near the tropopause. Our findings are relevant for understanding ozone's role in climate including its imprint on tropospheric ozone via stratosphere-troposphere air exchange.
Gerald Wetzel, Anne Kleinert, Sören Johansson, Felix Friedl-Vallon, Michael Höpfner, Jörn Ungermann, Tom Neubert, Valéry Catoire, Cyril Crevoisier, Andreas Engel, Thomas Gulde, Patrick Jacquet, Oliver Kirner, Erik Kretschmer, Thomas Kulessa, Johannes C. Laube, Guido Maucher, Hans Nordmeyer, Christof Piesch, Peter Preusse, Markus Retzlaff, Georg Schardt, Johan Schillings, Herbert Schneider, Axel Schönfeld, Tanja Schuck, Wolfgang Woiwode, Martin Riese, and Peter Braesicke
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1838, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1838, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present vertical trace gas profiles from the first balloon flight of the newly developed GLORIA-B limb-imaging Fourier-Transform spectrometer. Longer-lived gases are compared to external measurements to assess the quality of the GLORIA-B observations. Diurnal changes of photochemically active species are compared to model simulations. GLORIA-B demonstrates the capability of balloon-borne limb imaging to provide high-resolution vertical profiles of trace gases up to the middle stratosphere.
Sophie Bauchinger, Andreas Engel, Markus Jesswein, Timo Keber, Harald Bönisch, Florian Obersteiner, Andreas Zahn, Nicolas Emig, Peter Hoor, Hans-Christoph Lachnitt, Franziska Weyland, Linda Ort, and Tanja J. Schuck
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1589, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1589, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We compared different ways to define the upper barrier of the troposphere in the extra-tropics, the “tropopause”. By analysing ozone distributions sorted by different definitions, we found that the traditional temperature-based tropopause works less well than dynamic or tracer-based definitions. We saw the strongest ozone gradients across the tropopause using a higher value of potential vorticity than often used and recommend this value for future studies of exchange processes in this region.
Tanja J. Schuck, Johannes Degen, Timo Keber, Katharina Meixner, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Mélanie Ghysels, Georges Durry, Nadir Amarouche, Alessandro Zanchetta, Steven van Heuven, Huilin Chen, Johannes C. Laube, Sophie L. Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4333–4348, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4333-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4333-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A balloon was launched in 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas measurements up to 32 km. One purpose was to compare measurement techniques. We focus on the major greenhouse gases. To measure these, air was sampled with the AirCore technique and with flask sampling, and samples were analysed after the flight. In flight, observations were done with an optical method. In a companion paper, we report on observations of chlorine and bromine containing trace gases.
Patrick Konjari, Christian Rolf, Michaela I. Hegglin, Susanne Rohs, Yun Li, Andreas Zahn, Harald Bönisch, Philippe Nedelec, Martina Krämer, and Andreas Petzold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4269–4289, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4269-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study introduces a new method to derive adjusted water vapor (H2O) climatologies for the upper tropopshere and lower statosphere (UT/LS) using data from 60 000 flights under the IAGOS program. Biases in the IAGOS water vapour dataset are adjusted, based on the more accurate IAGOS-CARIBIC data. The resulting highly resolved H2O climatologies will contribute to a better understanding of the H2O variability in the UT/LS and its connection to various transport and mixing processes.
Laura N. Saunders, Kaley A. Walker, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Florian Haenel, Hella Garny, Harald Bönisch, Chris D. Boone, Ariana E. Castillo, Andreas Engel, Johannes C. Laube, Marianna Linz, Felix Ploeger, David A. Plummer, Eric A. Ray, and Patrick E. Sheese
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4185–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4185-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a 17-year stratospheric age-of-air dataset derived from ACE-FTS satellite measurements of sulfur hexafluoride. This is the longest continuous, global, and vertically resolved age of air time series available to date. In this paper, we show that this dataset agrees well with age-of-air datasets based on measurements from other instruments. We also present trends in the midlatitude lower stratosphere that indicate changes in the global circulation that are predicted by climate models.
Florian Voet, Felix Ploeger, Johannes Laube, Peter Preusse, Paul Konopka, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Jörn Ungermann, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Michael Höpfner, Bernd Funke, Gerald Wetzel, Sören Johansson, Gabriele Stiller, Eric Ray, and Michaela I. Hegglin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3541–3565, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3541-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3541-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study refines estimates of the stratospheric “age of air”, a measure of how long air circulates in the stratosphere. By analyzing correlations between trace gases measurable by satellites, the research introduces a method that reduces uncertainties and detects small-scale atmospheric features. This improved understanding of stratospheric circulation is crucial for better climate models and predictions, enhancing our ability to assess the impacts of climate change on the atmosphere.
Louis Rivoire, Marianna Linz, Jessica L. Neu, Pu Lin, and Michelle L. Santee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2269–2289, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2269-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The recovery of the ozone hole since the 1987 Montreal Protocol has been observed in some regions but has yet to be seen globally. We ask how long it will take to witness a global recovery. Using a technique akin to flying a virtual satellite in a climate model, we find that the degree of confidence we place in the answer to this question is dramatically affected by errors in satellite observations.
Norbert Glatthor, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Sylvia Kellmann, and Andrea Linden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1175–1208, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1175-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1175-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present global upper-tropospheric distributions of the pollutants HCN, CO, C2H2, C2H6, PAN, and HCOOH, observed between 2002 and 2012 by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on the Environmental Satellite (Envisat). By comparing the spatial distributions of their volume mixing ratios and by global correlation and regression analyses, we draw conclusions on their sources, such as biomass burning, anthropogenic sources, and biogenic release.
Johannes Schneider, Christiane Schulz, Florian Rubach, Anna Ludwig, Jonas Wilsch, Philipp Joppe, Christian Gurk, Sergej Molleker, Laurent Poulain, Florian Obersteiner, Torsten Gehrlein, Harald Bönisch, Andreas Zahn, Peter Hoor, Nicolas Emig, Heiko Bozem, Stephan Borrmann, and Markus Hermann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3969, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3969, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
IAGOS-CARIBIC operates an instrumented container laboratory on commercial regular passenger flights to obtain a long-term representative data set on the composition of the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere. Here we report on the development on a fully automated aerosol mass spectrometer for this project. We present technical specifications, necessary modifications for the automation, instrument calibration and comparisons, detection limits, and first in-flight data.
Gregory P. Schill, Karl D. Froyd, Daniel M. Murphy, Christina J. Williamson, Charles A. Brock, Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Eric A. Ray, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Alan J. Hills, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea R. Thompson, Ilann Bourgeois, Donald R. Blake, Joshua P. DiGangi, and Glenn S. Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 45–71, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-45-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-45-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Using single-particle mass spectrometry, we show that trace concentrations of bromine and iodine are ubiquitous in remote tropospheric aerosol and suggest that aerosols are an important part of the global reactive iodine budget. Comparisons to a global climate model with detailed iodine chemistry are favorable in the background atmosphere; however, the model cannot replicate our measurements near the ocean surface, in biomass burning plumes, and in the stratosphere.
Eric A. Ray, Fred L. Moore, Hella Garny, Eric J. Hintsa, Bradley D. Hall, Geoff S. Dutton, David Nance, James W. Elkins, Steven C. Wofsy, Jasna Pittman, Bruce Daube, Bianca C. Baier, Jianghanyang Li, and Colm Sweeney
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12425–12445, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12425-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12425-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we describe new techniques to derive age of air from multiple simultaneous measurements of long-lived trace gases in order to improve the fidelity of the age-of-air estimates and to be able to compare age of air from measurements taken from different instruments, platforms and decades. This technique also allows new transport information to be obtained from the measurements such as the primary source latitude that can also be compared to models.
Luis F. Millán, Peter Hoor, Michaela I. Hegglin, Gloria L. Manney, Harald Boenisch, Paul Jeffery, Daniel Kunkel, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Hao Ye, Thierry Leblanc, and Kaley Walker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7927–7959, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7927-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7927-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In the Observed Composition Trends And Variability in the UTLS (OCTAV-UTLS) Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) activity, we have mapped multiplatform ozone datasets into coordinate systems to systematically evaluate the influence of these coordinates on binned climatological variability. This effort unifies the work of studies that focused on individual coordinate system variability. Our goal was to create the most comprehensive assessment of this topic.
Ales Kuchar, Maurice Öhlert, Roland Eichinger, and Christoph Jacobi
Weather Clim. Dynam., 5, 895–912, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-895-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-895-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Exploring the polar vortex's impact on climate, the study evaluates model simulations against the ERA5 reanalysis data. Revelations about model discrepancies in simulating disruptive stratospheric warmings and vortex behavior highlight the need for refined model simulations of past climate. By enhancing our understanding of these dynamics, the research contributes to more reliable climate projections of the polar vortex with the impact on surface climate.
Karen De Los Ríos, Paulina Ordoñez, Gabriele P. Stiller, Piera Raspollini, Marco Gai, Kaley A. Walker, Cristina Peña-Ortiz, and Luis Acosta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3401–3418, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3401-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3401-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines newer versions of H2O and HDO retrievals from Envisat/MIPAS and SCISAT/ACE-FTS. Results reveal a better agreement in stratospheric H2O profiles than in HDO profiles. The H2O tape recorder signal is consistent across databases, but δD tape recorder composites show differences that impact the interpretation of water vapour transport. These findings enhance the need for intercomparisons to refine our insights.
Norbert Glatthor, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, Udo Grabowski, Michael Höpfner, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Manuel López-Puertas, and Gabriele P. Stiller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2849–2871, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2849-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2849-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present global atmospheric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) distributions retrieved from measurements of the MIPAS instrument on board the Environmental Satellite (Envisat) during 2002 to 2012. Monitoring of these gases is of scientific interest because both of them are strong greenhouse gases. We analyze the latest, improved version of calibrated MIPAS measurements. Further, we apply a new retrieval scheme leading to an improved CH4 and N2O data product .
Felicia Kolonjari, Patrick E. Sheese, Kaley A. Walker, Chris D. Boone, David A. Plummer, Andreas Engel, Stephen A. Montzka, David E. Oram, Tanja Schuck, Gabriele P. Stiller, and Geoffrey C. Toon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2429–2449, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2429-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2429-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Canadian Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer (ACE-FTS) satellite instrument is currently providing the only vertically resolved chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22) measurements from space. This study assesses the most current ACE-FTS HCFC-22 data product in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, as well as modelled HCFC-22 from a 39-year run of the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM39) in the same region.
Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, and Manuel López-Puertas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1759–1789, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1759-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1759-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
CFC-11, CFC-12, and HCFC-22 contribute to the depletion of ozone and are potent greenhouse gases. They have been banned by the Montreal protocol. With MIPAS on Envisat the atmospheric composition could be observed between 2002 and 2012. We present here the retrieval of their atmospheric distributions for the final data version 8. We characterise the derived data by their error budget and their spatial resolution. An additional representation for direct comparison to models is also provided.
Ryan S. Williams, Michaela I. Hegglin, Patrick Jöckel, Hella Garny, and Keith P. Shine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1389–1413, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1389-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1389-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
During winter, a brief but abrupt reversal of the mean stratospheric westerly flow (~30 km high) around the Arctic occurs ~6 times a decade. Using a chemistry–climate model, about half of these events are shown to induce large anomalies in Arctic ozone (>25 %) and water vapour (>±25 %) around ~8–12 km altitude for up to 2–3 months, important for weather forecasting. We also calculate a doubling to trebling of the risk in breaches of mid-latitude surface air quality (ozone) standards (~60 ppbv).
Bärbel Vogel, C. Michael Volk, Johannes Wintel, Valentin Lauther, Jan Clemens, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Gebhard Günther, Lars Hoffmann, Johannes C. Laube, Rolf Müller, Felix Ploeger, and Fred Stroh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 317–343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-317-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-317-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Over the Indian subcontinent, polluted air is rapidly uplifted to higher altitudes during the Asian monsoon season. We present an assessment of vertical transport in this region using different wind data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), as well as high-resolution aircraft measurements. In general, our findings confirm that the newest ECMWF reanalysis product, ERA5, yields a better representation of transport compared to the predecessor, ERA-Interim.
Manuel López-Puertas, Maya García-Comas, Bernd Funke, Thomas von Clarmann, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, and Gabriele P. Stiller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5609–5645, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5609-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5609-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a new version (V8) of ozone data from MIPAS middle-atmosphere spectra. The dataset comprises high-quality ozone profiles from 20 to 100 km, with pole-to-pole latitude coverage for the day- and nighttime, spanning 2005 until 2012. An exhaustive treatment of errors has been performed. Compared to other satellite instruments, MIPAS ozone shows a positive bias of 5 %–8 % below 70 km. In the upper mesosphere, this new version agrees much better than previous ones (within 10 %).
Maya García-Comas, Bernd Funke, Manuel López-Puertas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Andrea Linden, Belén Martínez-Mondéjar, Gabriele P. Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5357–5386, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5357-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We have released version 8 of MIPAS IMK–IAA temperatures and pointing information retrieved from MIPAS Middle and Upper Atmosphere mode version 8.03 calibrated spectra, covering 20–115 km altitude. We considered non-local thermodynamic equilibrium emission explicitly for each limb scan, essential to retrieve accurate temperatures above the mid-mesosphere. Comparisons of this temperature dataset with SABER measurements show excellent agreement, improving those of previous MIPAS versions.
Monali Borthakur, Miriam Sinnhuber, Alexandra Laeng, Thomas Reddmann, Peter Braesicke, Gabriele Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Ilya Usoskin, Jan Maik Wissing, and Olesya Yakovchuk
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12985–13013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12985-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12985-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Reduced ozone levels resulting from ozone depletion mean more exposure to UV radiation, which has various effects on human health. We analysed solar events to see what influence it has on the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere and how this atmospheric chemistry change can affect the ozone. To do this, we used an atmospheric model considering only chemistry and compared it with satellite data. The focus was mainly on the contribution of chlorine, and we found about 10 %–20 % ozone loss due to that.
Michael Kiefer, Dale F. Hurst, Gabriele P. Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Holger Vömel, John Anderson, Faiza Azam, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Laurent Blanot, Klaus Bramstedt, John P. Burrows, Robert Damadeo, Bianca Maria Dinelli, Patrick Eriksson, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Mark Hervig, Yasuko Kasai, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Donal Murtagh, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Karen H. Rosenlof, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Takafumi Sugita, Thomas von Clarmann, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4589–4642, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4589-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4589-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify biases and drifts (and their uncertainties) between the stratospheric water vapor measurement records of 15 satellite-based instruments (SATs, with 31 different retrievals) and balloon-borne frost point hygrometers (FPs) launched at 27 globally distributed stations. These comparisons of measurements during the period 2000–2016 are made using robust, consistent statistical methods. With some exceptions, the biases and drifts determined for most SAT–FP pairs are < 10 % and < 1 % yr−1.
Roland Eichinger, Sebastian Rhode, Hella Garny, Peter Preusse, Petr Pisoft, Aleš Kuchař, Patrick Jöckel, Astrid Kerkweg, and Bastian Kern
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5561–5583, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5561-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5561-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The columnar approach of gravity wave (GW) schemes results in dynamical model biases, but parallel decomposition makes horizontal GW propagation computationally unfeasible. In the global model EMAC, we approximate it by GW redistribution at one altitude using tailor-made redistribution maps generated with a ray tracer. More spread-out GW drag helps reconcile the model with observations and close the 60°S GW gap. Polar vortex dynamics are improved, enhancing climate model credibility.
Frederik Harzer, Hella Garny, Felix Ploeger, Harald Bönisch, Peter Hoor, and Thomas Birner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10661–10675, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10661-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10661-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We study the statistical relation between year-by-year fluctuations in winter-mean ozone and the strength of the stratospheric polar vortex. In the latitude–pressure plane, regression analysis shows that anomalously weak polar vortex years are associated with three pronounced local ozone maxima over the polar cap relative to the winter climatology. These response maxima primarily reflect the non-trivial combination of different ozone transport processes with varying relative contributions.
Stephen Bourguet and Marianna Linz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7447–7460, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7447-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7447-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we show how projected changes to tropical circulation will impact the water vapor concentration in the lower stratosphere, which has implications for surface climate and stratospheric chemistry. In our transport scenarios with slower east–west winds, air parcels ascending into the stratosphere do not experience the same cold temperatures that they would today. This effect could act in concert with previously modeled changes to stratospheric water vapor to amplify surface warming.
Luis F. Millán, Gloria L. Manney, Harald Boenisch, Michaela I. Hegglin, Peter Hoor, Daniel Kunkel, Thierry Leblanc, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Kaley Walker, Krzysztof Wargan, and Andreas Zahn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2957–2988, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2957-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2957-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The determination of atmospheric composition trends in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) is still highly uncertain. We present the creation of dynamical diagnostics to map several ozone datasets (ozonesondes, lidars, aircraft, and satellite measurements) in geophysically based coordinate systems. The diagnostics can also be used to analyze other greenhouse gases relevant to surface climate and UTLS chemistry.
Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Andrea Linden, Manuel López-Puertas, Gabriele P. Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2167–2196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2167-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2167-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
New global nitric oxide (NO) volume-mixing-ratio and lower-thermospheric temperature data products, retrieved from Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) spectra with the IMK-IAA MIPAS data processor, have been released. The dataset covers the entire Envisat mission lifetime and includes retrieval results from all MIPAS observation modes. The data are based on ESA version 8 calibration and were processed using an improved retrieval approach.
Michael Kiefer, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Michael Höpfner, Sylvia Kellmann, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Manuel López-Puertas, and Gabriele P. Stiller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1443–1460, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1443-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1443-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A new ozone data set, derived from radiation measurements of the space-borne instrument MIPAS, is presented. It consists of more than 2 million single ozone profiles from 2002–2012, covering virtually all latitudes and altitudes between 5 and 70 km. Progress in data calibration and processing methods allowed for significant improvement of the data quality, compared to previous data versions. Hence, the data set will help to better understand e.g. the time evolution of ozone in the stratosphere.
Sean M. Davis, Nicholas Davis, Robert W. Portmann, Eric Ray, and Karen Rosenlof
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3347–3361, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3347-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3347-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ozone in the lower part of the stratosphere has not increased and has perhaps even continued to decline in recent decades. This study demonstrates that the amount of ozone in this region is highly sensitive to the amount of air upwelling into the stratosphere in the tropics and that simulations from a climate model nudged to historical meteorological fields often fail to accurately capture the variations in tropical upwelling that control short-term trends in lower-stratospheric ozone.
Eric Förster, Harald Bönisch, Marco Neumaier, Florian Obersteiner, Andreas Zahn, Andreas Hilboll, Anna B. Kalisz Hedegaard, Nikos Daskalakis, Alexandros Panagiotis Poulidis, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Michael Lichtenstern, and Peter Braesicke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1893–1918, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1893-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1893-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The airborne megacity campaign EMeRGe provided an unprecedented amount of trace gas measurements. We combine measured volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with trajectory-modelled emission uptakes to identify potential source regions of pollution. We also characterise the chemical fingerprints (e.g. biomass burning and anthropogenic signatures) of the probed air masses to corroborate the contributing source regions. Our approach is the first large-scale study of VOCs originating from megacities.
Matthias Nützel, Sabine Brinkop, Martin Dameris, Hella Garny, Patrick Jöckel, Laura L. Pan, and Mijeong Park
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15659–15683, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15659-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15659-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
During the Asian summer monsoon season, a large high-pressure system is present at levels close to the tropopause above Asia. We analyse how air masses are transported from surface levels to this high-pressure system, which shows distinct features from the surrounding air masses. To this end, we employ multiannual data from two complementary models that allow us to analyse the climatology as well as the interannual and intraseasonal variability of these transport pathways.
Thomas von Clarmann, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Bernd Funke, Michael Kiefer, Anne Kleinert, Gabriele P. Stiller, Andrea Linden, and Sylvia Kellmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6991–7018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6991-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6991-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Errors of profiles of temperature and mixing ratios retrieved from spectra recorded with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding are estimated. All known and quantified sources of uncertainty are considered. Some ongoing uncertaities contribute to both the random and to the systematic errors. In some cases, one source of uncertainty propagates onto the error budget via multiple pathways. Problems arise when the correlations of errors to be propagated are unknown.
Stephen Bourguet and Marianna Linz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13325–13339, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13325-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we tested the impact of spatial and temporal resolution on Lagrangian trajectory studies in a key region of interest for climate feedbacks and stratospheric chemistry. Our analysis shows that new higher-resolution input data provide an opportunity for a better understanding of physical processes that control how air moves from the troposphere to the stratosphere. Future studies of how these processes will change in a warming climate will benefit from these results.
Liubov Poshyvailo-Strube, Rolf Müller, Stephan Fueglistaler, Michaela I. Hegglin, Johannes C. Laube, C. Michael Volk, and Felix Ploeger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9895–9914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9895-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9895-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC) controls the composition of the stratosphere, which in turn affects radiation and climate. As the BDC cannot be measured directly, it is necessary to infer its strength and trends indirectly. In this study, we test in the
model worlddifferent methods for estimating the mean age of air trends based on a combination of stratospheric water vapour and methane data. We also provide simple practical advice of a more reliable estimation of the mean age of air trends.
Ales Kuchar, Petr Sacha, Roland Eichinger, Christoph Jacobi, Petr Pisoft, and Harald Rieder
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-474, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-474, 2022
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
We focus on the impact of small-scale orographic gravity waves (OGWs) above the Himalayas. The interaction of GWs with the large-scale circulation in the stratosphere is not still well understood and can have implications on climate projections. We use a chemistry-climate model to show that these strong OGW events are associated with anomalously increased upward planetary-scale waves and in turn affect the circumpolar circulation and have the potential to alter ozone variability as well.
William G. Read, Gabriele Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Michael Kiefer, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Dale Hurst, Holger Vömel, Karen Rosenlof, Bianca M. Dinelli, Piera Raspollini, Gerald E. Nedoluha, John C. Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Patrick Eriksson, Christopher E. Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, Katja Weigel, John P. Burrows, and Alexei Rozanov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3377–3400, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper attempts to provide an assessment of the accuracy of 21 satellite-based instruments that remotely measure atmospheric humidity in the upper troposphere of the Earth's atmosphere. The instruments made their measurements from 1984 to the present time; however, most of these instruments began operations after 2000, and only a few are still operational. The objective of this study is to quantify the accuracy of each satellite humidity data set.
Eric A. Ray, Elliot L. Atlas, Sue Schauffler, Sofia Chelpon, Laura Pan, Harald Bönisch, and Karen H. Rosenlof
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6539–6558, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6539-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6539-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The movement of air masses and the trace gases they contain from the Earth’s surface into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) can have important implications for the radiative and chemical balance of the atmosphere. In this study we build on recent techniques and use new ones to estimate a range of transport diagnostics based on simultaneously measured trace gases in the UTLS during the monsoon season in North America.
M. Dolores Andrés Hernández, Andreas Hilboll, Helmut Ziereis, Eric Förster, Ovid O. Krüger, Katharina Kaiser, Johannes Schneider, Francesca Barnaba, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Jörg Schmidt, Heidi Huntrieser, Anne-Marlene Blechschmidt, Midhun George, Vladyslav Nenakhov, Theresa Harlass, Bruna A. Holanda, Jennifer Wolf, Lisa Eirenschmalz, Marc Krebsbach, Mira L. Pöhlker, Anna B. Kalisz Hedegaard, Linlu Mei, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Yangzhuoran Liu, Ralf Koppmann, Hans Schlager, Birger Bohn, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Richter, Benjamin Schreiner, Daniel Sauer, Robert Baumann, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Markus Kilian, Greta Stratmann, Christopher Pöhlker, Monica Campanelli, Marco Pandolfi, Michael Sicard, José L. Gómez-Amo, Manuel Pujadas, Katja Bigge, Flora Kluge, Anja Schwarz, Nikos Daskalakis, David Walter, Andreas Zahn, Ulrich Pöschl, Harald Bönisch, Stephan Borrmann, Ulrich Platt, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5877–5924, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5877-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5877-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
EMeRGe provides a unique set of in situ and remote sensing airborne measurements of trace gases and aerosol particles along selected flight routes in the lower troposphere over Europe. The interpretation uses also complementary collocated ground-based and satellite measurements. The collected data help to improve the current understanding of the complex spatial distribution of trace gases and aerosol particles resulting from mixing, transport, and transformation of pollution plumes over Europe.
Cynthia H. Whaley, Rashed Mahmood, Knut von Salzen, Barbara Winter, Sabine Eckhardt, Stephen Arnold, Stephen Beagley, Silvia Becagli, Rong-You Chien, Jesper Christensen, Sujay Manish Damani, Xinyi Dong, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Gregory Faluvegi, Mark Flanner, Joshua S. Fu, Michael Gauss, Fabio Giardi, Wanmin Gong, Jens Liengaard Hjorth, Lin Huang, Ulas Im, Yugo Kanaya, Srinath Krishnan, Zbigniew Klimont, Thomas Kühn, Joakim Langner, Kathy S. Law, Louis Marelle, Andreas Massling, Dirk Olivié, Tatsuo Onishi, Naga Oshima, Yiran Peng, David A. Plummer, Olga Popovicheva, Luca Pozzoli, Jean-Christophe Raut, Maria Sand, Laura N. Saunders, Julia Schmale, Sangeeta Sharma, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Henrik Skov, Fumikazu Taketani, Manu A. Thomas, Rita Traversi, Kostas Tsigaridis, Svetlana Tsyro, Steven Turnock, Vito Vitale, Kaley A. Walker, Minqi Wang, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Tahya Weiss-Gibbons
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5775–5828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5775-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5775-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Air pollutants, like ozone and soot, play a role in both global warming and air quality. Atmospheric models are often used to provide information to policy makers about current and future conditions under different emissions scenarios. In order to have confidence in those simulations, in this study we compare simulated air pollution from 18 state-of-the-art atmospheric models to measured air pollution in order to assess how well the models perform.
Felix Ploeger and Hella Garny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5559–5576, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5559-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5559-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate hemispheric asymmetries in stratospheric circulation changes in the last 2 decades in model simulations and atmospheric observations. We find that observed trace gas changes can be explained by a structural circulation change related to a deepening circulation in the Northern Hemisphere relative to the Southern Hemisphere. As this asymmetric signal is small compared to internal variability observed circulation trends over the recent past are not in contradiction to climate models.
Sheena Loeffel, Roland Eichinger, Hella Garny, Thomas Reddmann, Frauke Fritsch, Stefan Versick, Gabriele Stiller, and Florian Haenel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1175–1193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1175-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1175-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
SF6-derived trends of stratospheric AoA from observations and model simulations disagree in sign. SF6 experiences chemical degradation, which we explicitly integrate in a global climate model. In our simulations, the AoA trend changes sign when SF6 sinks are considered; thus, the process has the potential to reconcile simulated with observed AoA trends. We show that the positive AoA trend is due to the SF6 sinks themselves and provide a first approach for a correction to account for SF6 loss.
Michael Höpfner, Oliver Kirner, Gerald Wetzel, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, Florian Haenel, Sören Johansson, Johannes Orphal, Roland Ruhnke, Gabriele Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18433–18464, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18433-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18433-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
BrONO2 is an important reservoir gas for inorganic stratospheric bromine linked to the chemical cycles of stratospheric ozone depletion. Presently infrared limb sounding is the only way to measure BrONO2 in the atmosphere. We provide global distributions of BrONO2 derived from MIPAS observations 2002–2012. Comparisons with EMAC atmospheric modelling show an overall agreement and enable us to derive an independent estimate of stratospheric bromine of 21.2±1.4pptv based on the BrONO2 measurements.
Paul D. Hamer, Virginie Marécal, Ryan Hossaini, Michel Pirre, Gisèle Krysztofiak, Franziska Ziska, Andreas Engel, Stephan Sala, Timo Keber, Harald Bönisch, Elliot Atlas, Kirstin Krüger, Martyn Chipperfield, Valery Catoire, Azizan A. Samah, Marcel Dorf, Phang Siew Moi, Hans Schlager, and Klaus Pfeilsticker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16955–16984, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16955-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16955-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Bromoform is a stratospheric ozone-depleting gas released by seaweed and plankton transported to the stratosphere via convection in the tropics. We study the chemical interactions of bromoform and its derivatives within convective clouds using a cloud-scale model and observations. Our findings are that soluble bromine gases are efficiently washed out and removed within the convective clouds and that most bromine is transported vertically to the upper troposphere in the form of bromoform.
Marta Abalos, Natalia Calvo, Samuel Benito-Barca, Hella Garny, Steven C. Hardiman, Pu Lin, Martin B. Andrews, Neal Butchart, Rolando Garcia, Clara Orbe, David Saint-Martin, Shingo Watanabe, and Kohei Yoshida
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13571–13591, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13571-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13571-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The stratospheric Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC), responsible for transporting mass, tracers and heat globally in the stratosphere, is evaluated in a set of state-of-the-art climate models. The acceleration of the BDC in response to increasing greenhouse gases is most robust in the lower stratosphere. At higher levels, the well-known inconsistency between model and observational BDC trends can be partly reconciled by accounting for limited sampling and large uncertainties in the observations.
Yenny Gonzalez, Róisín Commane, Ethan Manninen, Bruce C. Daube, Luke D. Schiferl, J. Barry McManus, Kathryn McKain, Eric J. Hintsa, James W. Elkins, Stephen A. Montzka, Colm Sweeney, Fred Moore, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano Jost, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea R. Thompson, Eric Ray, Paul O. Wennberg, John Crounse, Michelle Kim, Hannah M. Allen, Paul A. Newman, Britton B. Stephens, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Benjamin A. Nault, Eric Morgan, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11113–11132, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11113-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11113-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Vertical profiles of N2O and a variety of chemical species and aerosols were collected nearly from pole to pole over the oceans during the NASA Atmospheric Tomography mission. We observed that tropospheric N2O variability is strongly driven by the influence of stratospheric air depleted in N2O, especially at middle and high latitudes. We also traced the origins of biomass burning and industrial emissions and investigated their impact on the variability of tropospheric N2O.
Christina J. Williamson, Agnieszka Kupc, Andrew Rollins, Jan Kazil, Karl D. Froyd, Eric A. Ray, Daniel M. Murphy, Gregory P. Schill, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea Thompson, Ilann Bourgeois, Thomas B. Ryerson, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, Donald R. Blake, Thao Paul V. Bui, Maximilian Dollner, Bernadett Weinzierl, and Charles A. Brock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9065–9088, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9065-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9065-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosols in the stratosphere influence climate by scattering and absorbing sunlight and through chemical reactions occurring on the particles’ surfaces. We observed more nucleation mode aerosols (small aerosols, with diameters below 12 nm) in the mid- and high-latitude lowermost stratosphere (8–13 km) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) than in the Southern Hemisphere. The most likely cause of this is aircraft emissions, which are concentrated in the NH at similar altitudes to our observations.
Thomas von Clarmann, Udo Grabowski, Gabriele P. Stiller, Beatriz M. Monge-Sanz, Norbert Glatthor, and Sylvia Kellmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8823–8843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8823-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8823-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of long-lived trace gases (SF6, CFC-11, CFC-12, HCFC-12, CCl4, N2O, CH4, H2O, and CO) performed with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) have been used to infer the stratospheric and mesospheric meridional circulation. The MIPAS data set covers the time period from July 2002 to April 2012. The method used for this purpose was the direct inversion of the two-dimensional continuity equation. Multiannual monthly mean circulation fields are presented.
Michael Kiefer, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Anne Kleinert, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Manuel López-Puertas, Daniel R. Marsh, and Gabriele P. Stiller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4111–4138, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4111-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4111-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
An improved dataset of vertical temperature profiles of the Earth's atmosphere in the altitude range 5–70 km is presented. These profiles are derived from measurements of the MIPAS instrument onboard ESA's Envisat satellite. The overall improvements are based on upgrades in the input data and several improvements in the data processing approach. Both of these are discussed, and an extensive error discussion is included. Enhancements of the new dataset are demonstrated by means of examples.
Felix Ploeger, Mohamadou Diallo, Edward Charlesworth, Paul Konopka, Bernard Legras, Johannes C. Laube, Jens-Uwe Grooß, Gebhard Günther, Andreas Engel, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8393–8412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8393-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8393-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Max Thomas, Johannes C. Laube, Jan Kaiser, Samuel Allin, Patricia Martinerie, Robert Mulvaney, Anna Ridley, Thomas Röckmann, William T. Sturges, and Emmanuel Witrant
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6857–6873, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6857-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6857-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
CFC gases are destroying the Earth's life-protecting ozone layer. We improve understanding of CFC destruction by measuring the isotopic fingerprint of the carbon in the three most abundant CFCs. These are the first such measurements in the main region where CFCs are destroyed – the stratosphere. We reconstruct the atmospheric isotope histories of these CFCs back to the 1950s by measuring air extracted from deep snow and using a model. The model and the measurements are generally consistent.
Simone Dietmüller, Hella Garny, Roland Eichinger, and William T. Ball
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6811–6837, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6811-2021, 2021
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Monika Szeląg, Johanna Tamminen, Erkki Kyrölä, Doug Degenstein, Chris Roth, Daniel Zawada, Alexei Rozanov, Carlo Arosio, John P. Burrows, Mark Weber, Alexandra Laeng, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Lucien Froidevaux, Nathaniel Livesey, Michel van Roozendael, and Christian Retscher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6707–6720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6707-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The MErged GRIdded Dataset of Ozone Profiles is a long-term (2001–2018) stratospheric ozone profile climate data record with resolved longitudinal structure that combines the data from six limb satellite instruments. The dataset can be used for various analyses, some of which are discussed in the paper. In particular, regionally and vertically resolved ozone trends are evaluated, including trends in the polar regions.
Yuming Jin, Ralph F. Keeling, Eric J. Morgan, Eric Ray, Nicholas C. Parazoo, and Britton B. Stephens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 217–238, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-217-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-217-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a new atmospheric coordinate (Mθe) based on equivalent potential temperature (θe) but with mass as the unit. This coordinate is useful in studying the spatial and temporal distribution of long-lived chemical tracers (CO2, CH4, O2 / N2, etc.) from sparse data, like airborne observation. Using this coordinate and sparse airborne observation (HIPPO and ATom), we resolve the Northern Hemisphere mass-weighted average CO2 seasonal cycle with high accuracy.
Agnieszka Kupc, Christina J. Williamson, Anna L. Hodshire, Jan Kazil, Eric Ray, T. Paul Bui, Maximilian Dollner, Karl D. Froyd, Kathryn McKain, Andrew Rollins, Gregory P. Schill, Alexander Thames, Bernadett B. Weinzierl, Jeffrey R. Pierce, and Charles A. Brock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15037–15060, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15037-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15037-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical upper troposphere over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans is a major source region of new particles. These particles are associated with the outflow from deep convection. We investigate the processes that govern the formation of these particles and their initial growth and show that none of the formation schemes commonly used in global models are consistent with observations. Using newer schemes indicates that organic compounds are likely important as nucleating and initial growth agents.
Hella Garny, Roland Walz, Matthias Nützel, and Thomas Birner
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 5229–5257, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5229-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5229-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Numerical models of Earth's climate system have been gaining more and more complexity over the last decades. Therefore, it is important to establish simplified models to improve process understanding. In our study, we present and document the development of a new simplified model setup within the framework of a complex climate model system that uses the same routines to calculate atmospheric dynamics as the complex model but is simplified in the representation of clouds and radiation.
Benjamin Birner, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Eric J. Morgan, Britton B. Stephens, Marianna Linz, Wuhu Feng, Chris Wilson, Jonathan D. Bent, Steven C. Wofsy, Jeffrey Severinghaus, and Ralph F. Keeling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12391–12408, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
With new high-precision observations from nine aircraft campaigns and 3-D chemical transport modeling, we show that the argon-to-nitrogen ratio (Ar / N2) in the lowermost stratosphere provides a useful constraint on the “age of air” (the time elapsed since entry of an air parcel into the stratosphere). Therefore, Ar / N2 in combination with traditional age-of-air indicators, such as CO2 and N2O, could provide new insights into atmospheric mixing and transport.
Ales Kuchar, Petr Sacha, Roland Eichinger, Christoph Jacobi, Petr Pisoft, and Harald E. Rieder
Weather Clim. Dynam., 1, 481–495, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-481-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-481-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Our study focuses on the impact of topographic structures such as the Himalayas and Rocky Mountains, so-called orographic gravity-wave hotspots. These hotspots play an important role in the dynamics of the middle atmosphere, in particular in the lower stratosphere. We study intermittency and zonally asymmetric character of these hotspots and their effects on the upper stratosphere and mesosphere using a new detection method in various modeling and observational datasets.
Cited articles
Adcock, K., Fraser, P., Hall, B., Langenfelds, R., Lee, G., Montzka, S., Oram, D., Röckmann, T., Stroh, F., Sturges, W., Vogel, B., and Laube, J.: Aircraft-Based Observations of Ozone-Depleting Substances in the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere in and Above the Asian Summer Monsoon, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 126, e2020JD033137, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033137, 2021. a, b
Andrews, A. E., Boering, K. A., Daube, B. C., Wofsy, S. C., Loewenstein, M., Jost, H., Podolske, J. R., Webster, C. R., Herman, R. L., Scott, D. C., Flesch, G. J., Moyer, E. J., Elkins, J. W., Dutton, G. S., Hurst, D. F., Moore, F. L., Ray, E. A., Romashkin, P. A., and Strahan, S. E.: Mean ages of stratospheric air derived from in situ observations of CO2, CH4, and N2O, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 106, 32295–32314, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD000465, 2001. a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Arfeuille, F., Luo, B. P., Heckendorn, P., Weisenstein, D., Sheng, J. X., Rozanov, E., Schraner, M., Brönnimann, S., Thomason, L. W., and Peter, T.: Modeling the stratospheric warming following the Mt. Pinatubo eruption: uncertainties in aerosol extinctions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11221–11234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11221-2013, 2013. a
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
Brasseur, G. and Solomon, S.: Aeronomy of the middle atmosphere, Reidel, Dordrecht, the Netherlands, 2 edn., ISBN 9027723443, 1986. a
Brewer, A. W.: Evidence for a world circulation provided by the measurements of helium and water vapor distribution in the stratosphere, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 75, 351–363, 1949. a
Butchart, N.: The Brewer-Dobson circulation, Rev. Geophys., 52, 157–184 https://doi.org/10.1002/2013RG000448, 2014. a
Datskos, P., Carter, J., and Christophorou, L.: Photodetachment of SF6, Chem. Phys. Lett., 239, 37–43, https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-2614(95)00417-3, 1995. a
Dietmüller, S., Eichinger, R., Garny, H., Birner, T., Boenisch, H., Pitari, G., Mancini, E., Visioni, D., Stenke, A., Revell, L., Rozanov, E., Plummer, D. A., Scinocca, J., Jöckel, P., Oman, L., Deushi, M., Kiyotaka, S., Kinnison, D. E., Garcia, R., Morgenstern, O., Zeng, G., Stone, K. A., and Schofield, R.: Quantifying the effect of mixing on the mean age of air in CCMVal-2 and CCMI-1 models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6699–6720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6699-2018, 2018. a
Dobson, G. M. B.: Origin and Distribution of the Polyatomic Molecules in the Atmosphere, P. Roy. Soc. Lond. A Mat., 236, 187–193, 1956. a
Engel, A., Mobius, T., Bonisch, H., Schmidt, U., Heinz, R., Levin, I., Atlas, E., Aoki, S., Nakazawa, T., Sugawara, S., Moore, F., Hurst, D., Elkins, J., Schauffler, S., Andrews, A., and Boering, K.: Age of stratospheric air unchanged within uncertainties over the past 30 years, Nat. Geosci., 2, 28–31, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo388, 2009. a, b, c
Froidevaux, L., Anderson, J., Wang, H.-J., Fuller, R. A., Schwartz, M. J., Santee, M. L., Livesey, N. J., Pumphrey, H. C., Bernath, P. F., Russell III, J. M., and McCormick, M. P.: Global OZone Chemistry And Related trace gas Data records for the Stratosphere (GOZCARDS): methodology and sample results with a focus on HCl, H2O, and O3, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10471–10507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10471-2015, 2015. a
Haenel, F. J., Stiller, G. P., von Clarmann, T., Funke, B., Eckert, E., Glatthor, N., Grabowski, U., Kellmann, S., Kiefer, M., Linden, A., and Reddmann, T.: Reassessment of MIPAS age of air trends and variability, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 13161–13176, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-13161-2015, 2015. a, b, c
Harrison, J. J.: New and improved infrared absorption cross sections for trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5827–5836, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5827-2018, 2018. a
Harrison, J. J.: New infrared absorption cross sections for the infrared limb sounding of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 260, 107432, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2020.107432, 2020. a
Haynes, P., Marks, C., McIntyre, M., Shepherd, T., and Shine, K.: On the “downward control” of extratropical diabatic circulations by eddy-induced mean zonal forces, J. Atmos. Sci., 48, 651–678, 1991. a
Holzer, M. and Waugh, D. W.: Interhemispheric transit time distributions and path-dependent lifetimes constrained by measurements of SF6, CFCs, and CFC replacements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 4581–4589, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064172, 2015. a
Huey, L. G., Hanson, D. R., and Howard, C. J.: Reactions of SF
Jöckel, P., Sander, R., Kerkweg, A., Tost, H., and Lelieveld, J.: Technical Note: The Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) – a new approach towards Earth System Modeling, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 433–444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-433-2005, 2005. a
Jöckel, P., Kerkweg, A., Pozzer, A., Sander, R., Tost, H., Riede, H., Baumgaertner, A., Gromov, S., and Kern, B.: Development cycle 2 of the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy2), Geosci. Model Dev., 3, 717–752, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-3-717-2010, 2010. a, b, c
Jöckel, P., Tost, H., Pozzer, A., Kunze, M., Kirner, O., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Brinkop, S., Cai, D. S., Dyroff, C., Eckstein, J., Frank, F., Garny, H., Gottschaldt, K.-D., Graf, P., Grewe, V., Kerkweg, A., Kern, B., Matthes, S., Mertens, M., Meul, S., Neumaier, M., Nützel, M., Oberländer-Hayn, S., Ruhnke, R., Runde, T., Sander, R., Scharffe, D., and Zahn, A.: Earth System Chemistry integrated Modelling (ESCiMo) with the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) version 2.51, Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1153–1200, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1153-2016, 2016. a, b, c, d
Kouznetsov, R., Sofiev, M., Vira, J., and Stiller, G.: Simulating age of air and the distribution of SF6 in the stratosphere with the SILAM model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5837–5859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5837-2020, 2020. a, b
Kovács, T., Feng, W., Totterdill, A., Plane, J. M. C., Dhomse, S., Gómez-Martín, J. C., Stiller, G. P., Haenel, F. J., Smith, C., Forster, P. M., García, R. R., Marsh, D. R., and Chipperfield, M. P.: Determination of the atmospheric lifetime and global warming potential of sulfur hexafluoride using a three-dimensional model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 883–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-883-2017, 2017. a, b, c
Leedham Elvidge, E. C., Bönisch, H., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Engel, A., Fraser, P. J., Gallacher, E., Langenfelds, R., Mühle, J., Oram, D. E., Ray, E. A., Ridley, A. R., Röckmann, T., Sturges, W. T., Weiss, R. F., and Laube, J. C.: Evaluation of stratospheric age of air from CF4, C2F6, C3F8, CHF3, HFC-125, HFC-227ea and SF6; implications for the calculations of halocarbon lifetimes, fractional release factors and ozone depletion potentials, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 3369–3385, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3369-2018, 2018. a, b, c
Linz, M., Plumb, R. A., Gerber, E. P., and Sheshadri, A.: The Relationship between Age of Air and the Diabatic Circulation of the Stratosphere, J. Atmos. Sci., 73, 4507–4518, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0125.1, 2016. a
Loeffel, S., Eichinger, R., Garny, H., Reddmann, T., Fritsch, F., Versick, S., Stiller, G., and Haenel, F.: The impact of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) sinks on age of air climatologies and trends, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1175–1193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1175-2022, 2022. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o
Moore, F. L., Elkins, J. W., Ray, E. A., Dutton, G. S., Dunn, R. E., Fahey, D. W., McLaughlin, R. J., Thompson, T. L., Romashkin, P. A., Hurst, D. F., and Wamsley, P. R.: Balloonborne in situ gas chromatograph for measurements in the troposphere and stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8330, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD000891, 2003. a
Morgenstern, O., Hegglin, M. I., Rozanov, E., O'Connor, F. M., Abraham, N. L., Akiyoshi, H., Archibald, A. T., Bekki, S., Butchart, N., Chipperfield, M. P., Deushi, M., Dhomse, S. S., Garcia, R. R., Hardiman, S. C., Horowitz, L. W., Jöckel, P., Josse, B., Kinnison, D., Lin, M., Mancini, E., Manyin, M. E., Marchand, M., Marécal, V., Michou, M., Oman, L. D., Pitari, G., Plummer, D. A., Revell, L. E., Saint-Martin, D., Schofield, R., Stenke, A., Stone, K., Sudo, K., Tanaka, T. Y., Tilmes, S., Yamashita, Y., Yoshida, K., and Zeng, G.: Review of the global models used within phase 1 of the Chemistry–Climate Model Initiative (CCMI), Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 639–671, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-639-2017, 2017. a
Ploeger, F. and Birner, T.: Seasonal and inter-annual variability of lower stratospheric age of air spectra, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 10195–10213, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-10195-2016, 2016. a
Plumb, R.: Stratospheric transport, J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn., 80, 793–809, 2002. a
Ray, E. A., Moore, F. L., Elkins, J. W., Rosenlof, K. H., Laube, J. C., Röckmann, T., Marsh, D. R., and Andrews, A. E.: Quantification of the SF6 lifetime based on mesospheric loss measured in the stratospheric polar vortex, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 4626–4638, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD026198, 2017. a, b, c, d, e
Reddmann, T., Ruhnke, R., and Kouker, W.: Three-dimensional model simulations of SF6 with mesospheric chemistry, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 14525–14537, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900700, 2001. a, b
Roeckner, E., Brokopf, R., Esch, M., Giorgetta, M., Hagemann, S., Kornblueh, L., Manzini, E., Schlese, U., and Schulzweida, U.: Sensitivity of simulated climate to horizontal and vertical resolution in the ECHAM5 atmosphere model, J. Climate, 19, 3771–3791, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3824.1, 2006. a
Schoeberl, M. R., Sparling, L. C., Jackman, C. H., and Fleming, E. L.: A Lagrangian view of stratospheric trace gas distributions, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 1537–1552, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD900787, 2000. a
Stiller, G., Harrison, J. J., Haenel, F., Glatthor, N., and Kellmann, S.: MIPAS monthly zonal mean Age of Air data, based on MIPAS SF6 retrievals, KIT-IMK [data set], https://doi.org/10.5445/IR/1000139453, 2021. a, b, c
Stiller, G. P., von Clarmann, T., Höpfner, M., Glatthor, N., Grabowski, U., Kellmann, S., Kleinert, A., Linden, A., Milz, M., Reddmann, T., Steck, T., Fischer, H., Funke, B., López-Puertas, M., and Engel, A.: Global distribution of mean age of stratospheric air from MIPAS SF6 measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 677–695, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-677-2008, 2008. a
Stiller, G. P., von Clarmann, T., Haenel, F., Funke, B., Glatthor, N., Grabowski, U., Kellmann, S., Kiefer, M., Linden, A., Lossow, S., and López-Puertas, M.: Observed temporal evolution of global mean age of stratospheric air for the 2002 to 2010 period, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 3311–3331, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-3311-2012, 2012. a, b, c, d, e
Volk, C., Elkins, J., Fahey, D., Dutton, G., Gilligan, J., Loewenstein, M., Podolske, J., Chan, K., and Gunson, M.: Evaluation of source gas lifetimes from stratospheric observations, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 25543–25564, 1997. a
Waugh, D. and Hall, T. M.: Age of stratospheric air: theory, observations, and models, Rev. Geophys., 40, 1010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000RG000101, 2002. a
WMO: Atmospheric ozone 1985 – volume I–III: assessment of our understanding of the processes controlling its present distribution and change, World Meteorological Organization, https://library.wmo.int/idurl/4/60466 (last access: 25 March 2024), 1986. a
Short summary
Transport circulation in the stratosphere is important for the distribution of tracers, but its strength is hard to measure. Mean transport times can be inferred from observations of trace gases with certain properties, such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). However, this gas has a chemical sink in the high atmosphere, which can lead to substantial biases in inferred transport times. In this paper we present a method to correct mean transport times derived from SF6 for the effects of chemical sinks.
Transport circulation in the stratosphere is important for the distribution of tracers, but its...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint