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Tracer interrelationships in the stratosphere
Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Relationships between long-lived stratospheric tracers, manifested in similar spatial structures on scales ranging from a few to several thousand kilometers, are displayed most strikingly if the mixing ratio of one is plotted against another, when the data collapse onto remarkably compact curves. Distinct curves form in the polar vortex, the midlatitude “surf zones”, and the tropics. Theory predicts such relationships for sufficiently rapid mixing along isentropic surfaces. Model results are used to illustrate the formation and seasonal evolution of distinct tracer relationships in the different regions. Using such relationships to associate departures from canonical forms with anomalous chemical or microphysical behavior must be done with care and with full awareness of the meteorological context of the data. Although the theory has been developed in the context of stratospheric tracers, the key requirement is that transport is predominantly two-dimensional. While the theory is thus inappropriate in the troposphere, it should be applicable to transport in the ocean interior.
Received 17 August 2005; accepted 12 March 2007; published 27 December 2007.
Citation: (2007), Tracer interrelationships in the stratosphere, Rev. Geophys., 45, RG4005, doi:10.1029/2005RG000179.
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