Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint
The vertical distribution and seasonal variation of water vapour volume mixing ratio ( H 2 O VMR), of relative humidity with respect to ice (RH ice ) and particularly of regions with ice-supersaturated air masses (ISSRs) in the extratropical upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere are investiga...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8157/2020/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:acp79264 2023-05-15T17:32:16+02:00 Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint Petzold, Andreas Neis, Patrick Rütimann, Mihal Rohs, Susanne Berkes, Florian Smit, Herman G. J. Krämer, Martina Spelten, Nicole Spichtinger, Peter Nédélec, Philippe Wahner, Andreas 2020-07-14 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8157/2020/ eng eng doi:10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8157/2020/ eISSN: 1680-7324 Text 2020 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 2020-07-20T16:22:00Z The vertical distribution and seasonal variation of water vapour volume mixing ratio ( H 2 O VMR), of relative humidity with respect to ice (RH ice ) and particularly of regions with ice-supersaturated air masses (ISSRs) in the extratropical upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere are investigated at northern mid-latitudes over the eastern North American, North Atlantic and European regions for the period 1995 to 2010. Observation data originate from regular and continuous long-term measurements on board instrumented passenger aircraft in the framework of the European research programme MOZAIC (1994–2010), which continues as the European research infrastructure IAGOS (from 2011). Data used in our study result from collocated observations of O 3 VMR, RH ice and temperature, as well as H 2 O VMR deduced from RH ice and temperature data. The in situ observations of H 2 O VMR and RH ice with a vertical resolution of 30 hPa ( < 750 m at the extratropical tropopause level) and a horizontal resolution of 1 km resolve detailed features of the distribution of water vapour and ice-supersaturated air relative to the thermal tropopause, including their seasonal and regional variability and chemical signatures at various distances from the tropopause layer. Annual cycles of the investigated properties document the highest H 2 O VMR and temperatures above the thermal tropopause in the summer months, whereas RH ice above the thermal tropopause remains almost constant in the course of the year. Over all investigated regions, upper tropospheric air masses close to the tropopause level are nearly saturated with respect to ice and contain a significant fraction of ISSRs with a distinct seasonal cycle of minimum values in summer (30 % over the ocean, 20 %–25 % over land) and maximum values in late winter (35 %–40 % over both land and ocean). Above the thermal tropopause, ISSRs are occasionally observed with an occurrence probability of 1.5 ± 1.1 %, whereas above the dynamical tropopause at 2 PVU (PVU: potential vorticity unit), the occurrence probability increases 4-fold to 8.4 ± 4.4 %. In both coordinate systems related to tropopause height (TPH), the ISSR occurrence probabilities drop to values below 1 % for the next higher air mass layer with pressure levels p < p TPH −15 hPa . For both tropopause definitions, the tropospheric nature or fingerprint, based on O 3 VMR, indicates the continuing tropospheric influence on ISSRs inside and above the respective tropopause layer. For the non-ISSRs, however, the stratospheric nature is clearly visible above the thermal tropopause, whereas above the dynamical tropopause the air masses show a still substantial tropospheric influence. For all three regions, seasonal deviations from the long-term annual cycle of ISSR occurrence show no significant trends over the observation period of 15 years, whereas a statistically significant correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the deviation of ISSR occurrence from the long-term average is observed for the North Atlantic region but not for the eastern North American and European regions. Text North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 20 13 8157 8179 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
op_collection_id |
ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
The vertical distribution and seasonal variation of water vapour volume mixing ratio ( H 2 O VMR), of relative humidity with respect to ice (RH ice ) and particularly of regions with ice-supersaturated air masses (ISSRs) in the extratropical upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere are investigated at northern mid-latitudes over the eastern North American, North Atlantic and European regions for the period 1995 to 2010. Observation data originate from regular and continuous long-term measurements on board instrumented passenger aircraft in the framework of the European research programme MOZAIC (1994–2010), which continues as the European research infrastructure IAGOS (from 2011). Data used in our study result from collocated observations of O 3 VMR, RH ice and temperature, as well as H 2 O VMR deduced from RH ice and temperature data. The in situ observations of H 2 O VMR and RH ice with a vertical resolution of 30 hPa ( < 750 m at the extratropical tropopause level) and a horizontal resolution of 1 km resolve detailed features of the distribution of water vapour and ice-supersaturated air relative to the thermal tropopause, including their seasonal and regional variability and chemical signatures at various distances from the tropopause layer. Annual cycles of the investigated properties document the highest H 2 O VMR and temperatures above the thermal tropopause in the summer months, whereas RH ice above the thermal tropopause remains almost constant in the course of the year. Over all investigated regions, upper tropospheric air masses close to the tropopause level are nearly saturated with respect to ice and contain a significant fraction of ISSRs with a distinct seasonal cycle of minimum values in summer (30 % over the ocean, 20 %–25 % over land) and maximum values in late winter (35 %–40 % over both land and ocean). Above the thermal tropopause, ISSRs are occasionally observed with an occurrence probability of 1.5 ± 1.1 %, whereas above the dynamical tropopause at 2 PVU (PVU: potential vorticity unit), the occurrence probability increases 4-fold to 8.4 ± 4.4 %. In both coordinate systems related to tropopause height (TPH), the ISSR occurrence probabilities drop to values below 1 % for the next higher air mass layer with pressure levels p < p TPH −15 hPa . For both tropopause definitions, the tropospheric nature or fingerprint, based on O 3 VMR, indicates the continuing tropospheric influence on ISSRs inside and above the respective tropopause layer. For the non-ISSRs, however, the stratospheric nature is clearly visible above the thermal tropopause, whereas above the dynamical tropopause the air masses show a still substantial tropospheric influence. For all three regions, seasonal deviations from the long-term annual cycle of ISSR occurrence show no significant trends over the observation period of 15 years, whereas a statistically significant correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and the deviation of ISSR occurrence from the long-term average is observed for the North Atlantic region but not for the eastern North American and European regions. |
format |
Text |
author |
Petzold, Andreas Neis, Patrick Rütimann, Mihal Rohs, Susanne Berkes, Florian Smit, Herman G. J. Krämer, Martina Spelten, Nicole Spichtinger, Peter Nédélec, Philippe Wahner, Andreas |
spellingShingle |
Petzold, Andreas Neis, Patrick Rütimann, Mihal Rohs, Susanne Berkes, Florian Smit, Herman G. J. Krämer, Martina Spelten, Nicole Spichtinger, Peter Nédélec, Philippe Wahner, Andreas Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
author_facet |
Petzold, Andreas Neis, Patrick Rütimann, Mihal Rohs, Susanne Berkes, Florian Smit, Herman G. J. Krämer, Martina Spelten, Nicole Spichtinger, Peter Nédélec, Philippe Wahner, Andreas |
author_sort |
Petzold, Andreas |
title |
Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
title_short |
Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
title_full |
Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
title_fullStr |
Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
title_sort |
ice-supersaturated air masses in the northern mid-latitudes from regular in situ observations by passenger aircraft: vertical distribution, seasonality and tropospheric fingerprint |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8157/2020/ |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
eISSN: 1680-7324 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8157/2020/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8157-2020 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
13 |
container_start_page |
8157 |
op_container_end_page |
8179 |
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1766130312332443648 |