Strong downdrafts preceding rapid tropopause ascent and their potential to identify cross-tropopause stratospheric intrusions

Chen, Feilong; Chen, Gang; Shi, Chunhua; Tian, Yufang; Zhang, Shaodong; Huang, Kaiming

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1403-2018

Articles | Volume 36, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1403-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1403-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 36, issue 5

Regular paper

|

19 Oct 2018

Regular paper |

| 19 Oct 2018

Strong downdrafts preceding rapid tropopause ascent and their potential to identify cross-tropopause stratospheric intrusions

Feilong Chen, Gang Chen, Chunhua Shi, Yufang Tian, Shaodong Zhang, and Kaiming Huang

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-36-1403-2018-supplement

Data sets

ECMWF ERA-interim data ECMWF https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets

MST radar data MST http://159.226.22.74/

Global radiosonde data Radiosonde http://weather.uwyo.edu/upperair/

Short summary

Downward stratospheric intrusions are well known as an important source of tropospheric ozone. In the light of the present understanding, several unanswered questions remain regarding the use of VHF radars to identify stratospheric intrusions. Our study found that the radar-observed strong downdrafts preceding the rapid tropopause ascent are a strong diagnostic for possible intrusions. This will have important implications for air-quality monitoring and long-term estimation of troposphere ozone.