Articles | Volume 24, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4693-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
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the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
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https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4693-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
19 Apr 2024
Research article |
| 19 Apr 2024
| 19 Apr 2024
Air mass transport to the tropical western Pacific troposphere inferred from ozone and relative humidity balloon observations above Palau
Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany
Peter von der Gathen
Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany
Markus Rex
Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany
Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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The tropical western Pacific (TWP) is an active interhemispheric transport region contributing significantly to the global climate. A method to determine the chemical equator was developed by model simulations of a virtual passive tracer to analyze transport in the tropics, with a focus on the TWP region. We compare the chemical equator with tropical rain belts and wind fields and obtain a vertical pattern of interhemispheric transport processes which shows tilt structure in certain seasons.
Klaus Dethloff, Wieslaw Maslowski, Stefan Hendricks, Younjoo J. Lee, Helge F. Goessling, Thomas Krumpen, Christian Haas, Dörthe Handorf, Robert Ricker, Vladimir Bessonov, John J. Cassano, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Robert Osinski, Markus Rex, Annette Rinke, Julia Sokolova, and Anja Sommerfeld
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Sea ice thickness anomalies during the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) winter in January, February and March 2020 were simulated with the coupled Regional Arctic climate System Model (RASM) and compared with CryoSat-2/SMOS satellite data. Hindcast and ensemble simulations indicate that the sea ice anomalies are driven by nonlinear interactions between ice growth processes and wind-driven sea-ice transports, with dynamics playing a dominant role.
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Short summary
The transport history of tropospheric air masses above the tropical western Pacific is studied by local ozone and relative humidity profile measurements from Palau. A prominent anti-correlation between both tracers separates air masses of different origin and genesis. Back trajectories confirm a local convective origin of the year-round humid ozone-poor background. Anomalously dry ozone-rich air is generated in tropical Asia by pollution and dehydrated during transport via radiative cooling.
The transport history of tropospheric air masses above the tropical western Pacific is studied...
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