Observations of deep convective influence on stratospheric water vapor and its isotopic composition

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Read Full Article (file size: 757892 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L04814, doi:10.1029/2006GL027899, 2007 Observations of deep convective influence on stratospheric water vapor and its isotopic composition Thomas F. Hanisco Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA E. J. Moyer Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA E. M. Weinstock Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA J. M. St. Clair Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA D. S. Sayres Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA J. B. Smith Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA R. Lockwood Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA J. G. Anderson Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA A. E. Dessler Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA F. N. Keutsch Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA J. R. Spackman Chemical Sciences Division, Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA W. G. Read Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA T. P. Bui NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California, USA Abstract In situ observations of H₂O and HDO in the midlatitude stratosphere are used to evaluate the role of convection in determining the stratospheric water budget. The observations show that water vapor in the overworld stratosphere (potential temperature > 380 K) is isotopically heavier than expected. Measurements in an airmass with anomalously high concentrations of water vapor show isotopic water signatures that are characteristic of evaporated ice lofted from the troposphere during convective storms. Observed H₂O and HDO concentrations in the plume of enhanced water and in the background stratosphere suggest that extratropical convection can account for a significant fraction of the observed water vapor in the summertime overworld stratosphere above the mid-North American continent. Received 16 August 2006; accepted 23 January 2007; published 27 February 2007. Keywords: convection; water isotopes; water transport. Index Terms: 3362 Atmospheric Processes: Stratosphere/troposphere interactions; 3314 Atmospheric Processes: Convective processes; 0340 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry; 0341 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Middle atmosphere: constituent transport and chemistry (3334). Read Full Article (file size: 757892 bytes) Cited by Citation: Hanisco, T. F., et al. (2007), Observations of deep convective influence on stratospheric water vapor and its isotopic composition, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L04814, doi:10.1029/2006GL027899. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

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