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Observation of mesospheric air inside the arctic stratospheric polar vortex in early 2003

  • During several balloon flights inside the Arctic polar vortex in early 2003, unusual trace gas distributions were observed, which indicate a strong influence of mesospheric air in the stratosphere. The tuneable diode laser (TDL) instrument SPIRALE (Spectroscopie InFrarouge par Absorption de Lasers Embarqués) measured unusually high CO values (up to 600 ppb) on 27 January at about 30 km altitude. The cryosampler BONBON sampled air masses with very high molecular Hydrogen, extremely low SF6 and enhanced CO values on 6 March at about 25 km altitude. Finally, the MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrometer showed NOy values which are significantly higher than NOy* (the NOy derived from a correlation between N2O and NOy under undisturbed conditions), on 21 and 22 March in a layer centred at 22 km altitude. Thus, the mesospheric air seems to have been present in a layer descending from about 30 km in late January to 25 km altitude in early March and about 22 km altitude on 20 March. We present corroborating evidence from a model study using the KASIMA (KArlsruhe Simulation model of the Middle Atmosphere) model that also shows a layer of mesospheric air, which descended into the stratosphere in November and early December 2002, before the minor warming which occurred in late December 2002 lead to a descent of upper stratospheric air, cutting of a layer in which mesospheric air is present. This layer then descended inside the vortex over the course of the winter. The same feature is found in trajectory calculations, based on a large number of trajectories started in the vicinity of the observations on 6 March. Based on the difference between the mean age derived from SF6 (which has an irreversible mesospheric loss) and from CO2 (whose mesospheric loss is much smaller and reversible) we estimate that the fraction of mesospheric air in the layer observed on 6 March, must have been somewhere between 35% and 100%.

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Metadaten
Author:Andreas EngelORCiD, Tanja Möbius, Hans-Peter Haase, Harald BönischORCiDGND, Thomas Wetter, Ulrich Schmidt, Ingeborg Levin, Thomas Reddmann, Hermann Oelhaf, Gerald Wetzel, Katja GrunowGND, Nathalie Huret, Michel Pirre
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-37344
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-267-2006
ISSN:1680-7316
ISSN:1680-7324
Parent Title (English):Atmospheric chemistry and physics, 6.2006, S. 267-282
Publisher:European Geosciences Union
Place of publication:Katlenburg-Lindau
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2006/02/01
Date of first Publication:2006/02/01
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2007/02/16
Volume:6
Page Number:16
First Page:267
Last Page:282
Note:
© 2006 Author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
HeBIS-PPN:188841423
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie / Geowissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0