Abstract
Abstract. The subtropical and polar upper troposphere fronts and the polar vortex serve as the boundaries to divide the Northern Hemisphere into four meteorological regimes. These regimes are defined as (1) the arctic regime – within the polar vortex, (2) the polar regime – between the polar front and the polar vortex, or when the latter is not present, the pole, (3) the midlatitude regime – between the subtropical and polar fronts, and (4) the tropical regime – between the equator and the subtropical front. Data from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) were used to show that within each meteorological regime, ozone and water profiles are characterized by unique ozonepause and hygropause heights. Daily measurements and seven-year (1997–2003) monthly climatologies showed that, within each meteorological regime, both constituents exhibited distinct profile shapes from the tropopause up to approximately 20 km. This distinction was most pronounced in the winter and spring months, and weak in the summer and fall. Despite differences in retrieval techniques and sampling between the SAGE and HALOE instruments, the seven-year monthly climatologies calculated for each regime agreed well for both species below ~22 km. Given that profiles of ozone and water vapor exhibit unique profiles shapes within each regime in the UTLS, trends in this region will therefore be the result of both changes within each meteorological regime, and changes in the relative contribution of each regime to a given zonal band over time.
Highlights
Understanding the distributions of ozone and water vapor are essential for determining the radiative and chemical budgets of the atmosphere
Unlike Potential vorticity (PV) and equivalent latitude, the meteorological regime method provides a coarse classification into three regions, but because the boundaries dividing these regions are based upon physical boundaries to mixing, they encompass relatively homogenous air masses
Because Earth Probe (EP) Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) measurements are made at approximately 11 a.m., whereas both SAGE and Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) measurements are made at local sunrise or sunset, there exists the possibility that shifts in the fronts may result in the misclassification of some SAGE and HALOE profiles
Summary
Understanding the distributions of ozone and water vapor are essential for determining the radiative and chemical budgets of the atmosphere. Follette-Cook et al.: Classification of profiles by meteorological regime ozone and water vapor profiles from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) within each regime This method requires only the measurement of ozone columns in order to classify dynamically distinct regions. Unlike PV and equivalent latitude, the meteorological regime method provides a coarse classification into three regions, but because the boundaries dividing these regions are based upon physical boundaries to mixing, they encompass relatively homogenous air masses This classification is advantageous when working with a limited number of measurements, since it allows for the binning together of measurements covering a large range of equivalent latitudes. Differences increase somewhat in the upper stratosphere and near the tropopause
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