Isentropic scaling analysis of ozone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

Abstract

We examine ozone concentrations recorded by 7630 commercial flights from August 1994 to December 1997 for spatial scaling properties. The large amount of data allows an approximately isentropic analysis of ozone variability in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Since ozone is a good passive tracer at cruise altitudes, the results provide a strong diagnostic for scalar advection theories and models. Calculations of structure functions and increment probability distribution functions show that ozone variability scales anomalously from ∼2 to ∼2000 km, although not continuously in this interval. We find no evidence for the simple scaling predicted for smooth advection/diffusion, even at the large scales. At mesoscales the upper tropospheric ozone field is rougher and more intermittent than in the lower stratosphere. Within the troposphere the equatorial ozone field is rougher than at higher latitudes, and the intermittency decreases with increasing latitude. In the stratosphere the intermittency and roughness are greater at high latitudes and over land than at midlatitudes and over the ocean.