General characteristics of tropospheric trace constituent layers observed in the MOZAIC program
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Thouretetal-2000.pdf
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Author(s)
Thouret, Valérie
Cho, John Y. N.
Newell, Reginald E.
Marenco, Alain
Smit, Herman G. J.
Date Issued
July 2000
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Citation
Thouret, Valérie et al. “General Characteristics of Tropospheric Trace Constituent Layers Observed in the MOZAIC Program.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 105, D13 (July 2000): 17379–17392 © 2000 American Geophysical Union (AGU)
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Final published version
Abstract
We present a statistical study on tropospheric layers as allowed by the most extensive ozone and water vapor database currently available. Considering O₃ and H₂O deviations from an automatically calculated background, we define four types of layers. These tropospheric layers are a common feature, with the percentage of the troposphere occupied by such layers varying from 7% to 33% depending on the region and the season. Most of the layers are found between 4 and 8 km altitude, and the median thickness is about 500 m. At northern midlatitudes we find 4 times more layers in summer than in winter, while in tropical Asia we observe a spring maximum in the occurrence of the layers. The most abundant layer type everywhere is O₃+H₂O− and corresponds to the signature of stratospheric intrusions or continental pollution. This suggests that stratosphere-troposphere exchanges or at least their influence are not negligible in summer at midlatitudes or in the tropics. A complete understanding of the layers could lead to a better empirical assessment of the different tropospheric ozone sources and to an assessment of the potential vorticity fluxes in the troposphere.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900238
