Global statistics of multiple tropopauses from the IGRA database

Abstract

We present statistics for the occurrence of multiple tropopauses for the entire globe, derived from the meteorological sounding data contained in the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA). The IGRA is the most comprehensive and largest radiosonde data set compiled to date, with more than 1500 stations and data starting from 1938. Statistics were derived from (a) the IGRA tropopause reports (reported tropopauses) and (b) tropopauses calculated from the sounding profiles reported in the IGRA (calculated tropopauses). This work constitutes a necessary precursor to conducting better research on the phenomena of multiple tropopauses and promotes understanding of the global structure of these events. Among other things, we calculated global counts and the latitudinal distribution of percentages of tropopauses with respect to the number of soundings, percentages of second and third tropopauses with respect to the first tropopause, and mean values of pressure and temperature of multiple tropopauses. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.