Articles | Volume 26, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2691-2026
© Author(s) 2026. 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-26-2691-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
20 Feb 2026
Research article |
| 20 Feb 2026
| 20 Feb 2026
Tropical tropopause ozone modulated by tropopause height
Harvard University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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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.
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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.
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Short summary
The tropical tropopause is a key region that separates the atmosphere’s two lowermost layers. Ozone concentrations at this level have important implications for atmospheric chemistry and circulation. In this work, we explore how tropical tropopause ozone varies in observations and chemistry-climate models. We show that fluctuations in the elevation of the tropical tropopause play a role in controlling the nearby ozone levels, with implications for future climate and stratospheric ozone.
The tropical tropopause is a key region that separates the atmosphere’s two lowermost layers....
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