The path density of interhemispheric surface-to-surface transport. Part I: Development of the diagnostic and illustration with an analytic model

Abstract

A new path-density diagnostic for atmospheric surface-to-surface transport is formulated. The path density η gives the joint probability that air whose last surface contact occurred on patch Ωi at time ti will make its next surface contact with patch Ωf after a residence time τ ε (τ, τ + dτ) and that it can be found in d3r during its surface-to-surface journey. The dependence on τ allows the average surface-to-surface flow rate carried by the paths to be computed. A simple algorithm for using passive tracers to determine η is developed. A key advantage of the diagnostic is that it can be computed efficiently without an adjoint model and using only a moderately large number of tracers. The nature of the path density is illustrated with a one-dimensional advection - diffusion model. In Part II of this study, the path density diagnostic is applied to quantify interhemispheric transport through the troposphere and stratosphere. © 2009 American Meteorological Society.