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Factors Controlling Upper-Troposphere Water VaporThe seasonal changes of the upper-tropospheric humidity are studied with the water vapor data from the Microwave Limb Sounder on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and the winds and vertical velocity data obtained from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Using the same algorithm for vertical transport as that used for horizontal transport (by Zhu and Newell), the authors find that the moisture in the tropical upper troposphere may be increased mainly by intensified local convection in a small portion, less than 10%, of the whole area between 40 degrees S and 40 degrees N. The contribution of large-scale background circulations and divergence of horizontal transport is relatively small in these regions. These dynamic processes cannot be revealed by the traditional analyses of moisture fluxes. The negative response suggested by Lindzen, with enhanced convection in the Tropics being accompanied by subsidence drying in the subtropics, also exists, but the latter does not apparently dominate in the moisture budget.
Document ID
20020033737
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Zhu, Yong
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA United States)
Newell, Reginald E.
(Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA United States)
Read, William G.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
February 15, 2000
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Climate
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Volume: 13
Subject Category
Geophysics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-6710
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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