A case study of transport of tropical marine boundary layer and lower tropospheric air masses to the northern midlatitude upper troposphere

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
• Main Authors: Grant, William B., Browell, Edward V., Butler, Carolyn F., Fenn, Marta A., Clayton, Marian B., Hannan, John R., Fuelberg, Henry E., Blake, Donald R., Blake, Nicola J., Gregory, Gerald L., Heikes, Brian G., Sachse, Glen W., Singh, Hanwant B., Snow, Julie, Talbot, Robert W.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@URI 2000
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/231; https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD901022; https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/context/gsofacpubs/article/1270/viewcontent/Heikes_CaseStudyTransport_2000.pdf

Lowâ€ozone (ppbv) air masses were observed in the upper troposphere in northern midlatitudes over the eastern United States and the North Atlantic Ocean on several occasions in October 1997 during the NASA Subsonic Assessment, Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide Experiment (SONEX) mission. Three cases of lowâ€ozone air masses were shown to have originated in the tropical Pacific marine boundary layer or lower troposphere and advected poleward along a warm conveyor belt during a synopticâ€scale disturbance. The tropopause was elevated in the region with the lowâ€ozone air mass. Stratospheric intrusions accompanied the disturbances. On the basis of storm track and stratospheric intrusion climatologies, such events appear to be more frequent from September through March than the rest of the year.