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Processes Controlling Water Vapor in the Winter Arctic Tropopause RegionThis work describes transport and thermodynamic processes that control water vapor near the tropopause during the SAGE Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE), held during the Arctic 1999-2000 winter season. Aircraft based water vapor, carbon monoxide, and ozone measurements are analyzed so as to establish how deeply tropospheric air mixes into the arctic lower-most stratosphere, and what the implications are for cloud formation and water vapor removal in this region of the atmosphere. There are three major findings. First, troposphere-to- stratosphere exchange extends into the arctic stratosphere to about 13 km. Penetration is to similar levels throughout the winter, however, because ozone increases idly in the early spring, tropospheric air mixes with the highest values of ozone in that season. The effect of this upward mixing is to elevate water vapor mixing ratios significantly above their prevailing stratospheric values of about 5 ppmv. Second, the potential for cloud formation in the stratosphere is highest during early spring, with about 20\% of the parcels which have ozone values of 300-350ppbv experiencing ice saturation in a given 10 day period. Third, during early Spring temperatures at the tropopause are cold enough so that 5-10\% of parcels experience relative humidities above 100\%, even if the water content is as low as 5 ppmv. The implication is that during, this period the arctic tropopause can play an important role in maintaining a very dry upper troposphere during early Spring.
Document ID
20020061898
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Pfister, Leonhard
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Selkirk, Henry B.
(Space Physics Research Inst. Sunnyvale, CA United States)
Jensen, Eric J.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Podolske, James
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Sachse, Glen
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Avery, Melody
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Schoeberl, Mark R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Hipskino, R. Stephen
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Subject Category
Geophysics
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: RTOP 622-65-07-10
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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