Tracer correlations in the northern high latitude lowermost stratosphere: Influence of cross‐tropopause mass exchange

Fischer, H., Wienhold, F. G., Hoor, P., Bujok, O., Schiller, C., Siegmund, P., Ambaum, M. H. P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6824-8083, Scheeren, H. A. and Lelieveld, J. (2000) Tracer correlations in the northern high latitude lowermost stratosphere: Influence of cross‐tropopause mass exchange. Geophysical Research Letters, 27 (1). pp. 97-100. ISSN 0094-8276 doi: 10.1029/1999GL010879

Abstract/Summary

We present an analysis of trace gas correlations in the lowermost stratosphere. In‐situ aircraft measurements of CO, N2O, NOy and O3, obtained during the STREAM 1997 winter campaign, have been used to investigate the role of cross‐tropopause mass exchange on tracer‐tracer relations. At altitudes several kilometers above the local tropopause, undisturbed stratospheric air was found with NOy/NOy * ratios close to unity, NOy/O3 about 0.003–0.006 and CO mixing ratios as low as 20 ppbv (NOy * is a proxy for total reactive nitrogen derived from NOy–N2O relations measured in the stratosphere). Mixing of tropospheric air into the lowermost stratosphere has been identified by enhanced ratios of NOy/NOy * and NOy/O3, and from scatter plots of CO versus O3. The enhanced NOy/O3 ratio in the lowermost stratospheric mixing zone points to a reduced efficiency of O3 formation from aircraft NOx emissions.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/4447
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords	Atmospheric Composition and Structure Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Stratosphere/troposphere interactions
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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