Horizontal variability 1-2 km below the tropical tropopause

Abstract

Two long meridional flights of the WB57F high-altitude aircraft 1-2 km below the tropical tropopause are examined for ozone and total water variability in the context of a large suite of tracers having lifetimes ranging from 10-2 to 103 years, together with mass spectra of individual aerosol particles. It is concluded that local correlations are predominant; contributing processes to the maintenance of the composition are marine convection, continental convection, in situ chemical production, biomass burning, downward transport from the stratosphere and recirculation. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.