Convective Transport to the Upper Troposphere and Lower Stratosphere Over the Asian Summer Monsoon as Observed During the 2022 ACCLIP Airborne Campaign

Deep convection in the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) rapidly transports boundary layer pollutants including ozone-depleting substances into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). The confinement of the seasonal anticyclonic circulation in the UTLS over Asia initially traps the pollutants near the tropopause level, but air masses are subsequently transported throughout the global stratosphere and impact Earth’s climate. Characterizing the transport pathways and processes of these pollutants are critical for identifying source regions and quantifying regional contributions to global stratospheric concentrations. The Asian summer monsoon Chemical and Climate Impact Project (ACCLIP) was conducted in summer 2022 using two high-altitude aircraft (NSF NCAR Gulfstream V and the NASA WB-57) to obtain UTLS chemical composition and aerosol distribution for characterizing the impact of the ASM on global chemistry and climate. Backward trajectories from ACCLIP flight tracks were traced through time-varying, satellite-derived global convective cloud top altitude fields to investigate the convective air mass origins of the sampled air parcels. Analyses reveal that air masses lofted by convection within the ASM (South Asian summer monsoon) and near the edge of the of the ASM anticyclone (East Asian summer monsoon) contributed to the airborne observations. In this study, we present a summary of the transport statistics of UTLS air masses sampled during ACCLIP and discuss the implications of these results on our understanding of the role of ASM in global constituent transport.