Abstract
Abstract. Stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) has important impacts on the chemical and radiative properties of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. This study presents a 15-year climatology of global large-scale STE from four modern reanalyses: ERA-Interim, JRA-55, MERRA-2, and MERRA. STE is separated into three regions (tropics, subtropics, and extratropics) and two transport directions (stratosphere-to-troposphere transport or STT and troposphere-to-stratosphere transport or TST) in an attempt to identify the significance of known transport mechanisms. The extratropics and tropics are separated by the tropopause break. Any STE occurring between the tropics and the extratropics through the tropopause break is considered subtropical exchange (i.e., in the vicinity of the subtropical jet). In addition, this study employs a method to identify STE as that which crosses the lapse-rate tropopause (LRT), while most previous studies have used a potential vorticity (PV) isosurface as the troposphere–stratosphere boundary. PV-based and LRT-based STE climatologies are compared using the ERA-Interim reanalysis output. The comparison reveals quantitative and qualitative differences, particularly for TST in the polar regions. Based upon spatiotemporal integrations, we find STE to be STT dominant in ERA-Interim and JRA-55 and TST dominant in MERRA and MERRA-2. The sources of the differences are mainly attributed to inconsistencies in the representation of STE in the subtropics and extratropics. Time series during the 15-year analysis period show long-term changes that are argued to correspond with changes in the Brewer–Dobson circulation.
Highlights
Stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) has significant impacts on the chemical and radiative properties of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS; Holton et al, 1995)
Total stratosphere-to-troposphere transport (STT) mass fluxes are maximized along the Northern Hemisphere (NH) Atlantic and Pacific extratropical storm tracks in each reanalysis model
Peak regions of tropical STT are found along the Equator across the Indian Ocean in Japanese Meteorological Agency 55-year reanalysis (JRA-55) and ERA-Interim, but are found to be displaced south of the Equator in both MERRA reanalyses
Summary
Stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) has significant impacts on the chemical and radiative properties of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS; Holton et al, 1995). STT brings ozone-rich stratospheric air into the troposphere, and in some cases STT can extend into the planetary boundary layer (e.g., Danielsen, 1968; Lin et al, 2012). Ozone radiative forcing is maximized in the upper troposphere (Lacis et al, 1990). TST processes can inject water vapor and tropospheric pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, into the lower stratosphere, where the lifetimes of such gases can be increased. Because water vapor is a greenhouse gas, increases in lower stratosphere (LS) water vapor from TST lead to an increase in radiative forcing similar to that for upper troposphere (UT) ozone (Forster and Shine, 2002)
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