Articles | Volume 25, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3541-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-25-3541-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
25 Mar 2025
Research article |
| 25 Mar 2025
| 25 Mar 2025
On the estimation of stratospheric age of air from correlations of multiple trace gases
Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
Felix Ploeger
Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Johannes Laube
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Peter Preusse
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Paul Konopka
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Jens-Uwe Grooß
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Jörn Ungermann
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Björn-Martin Sinnhuber
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Trace Gases and Remote Sensing (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Michael Höpfner
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Trace Gases and Remote Sensing (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Bernd Funke
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Granada, Spain
Gerald Wetzel
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Trace Gases and Remote Sensing (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Sören Johansson
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Trace Gases and Remote Sensing (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Gabriele Stiller
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Trace Gases and Remote Sensing (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Michaela I. Hegglin
Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
Institute of Climate and Energy Systems: Stratosphere (ICE-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Data sets
ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present Hans Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47
Lookup tables used in the publication "On the estimation of stratospheric age of air from correlations of multiple trace gases" Florian Voet https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14543944
Model code and software
MESSy MESSy Consortium https://gitlab.dkrz.de/MESSy/MESSy
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.
This study refines estimates of the stratospheric “age of air”, a measure of how long air...
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