Publication Date:
2019-07-13
Description:
The oxidizing capacity of the troposphere is controlled primarily by the abundance of hydroxyl radical (OH). The global mean concentration of OH, [OH]_GLOBAL, inferred from measurements of methyl chloroform, has remained relatively constant during the past several decades, despite rising levels of CH4 that should have led to a steady decline. Here we examine other factors that may have affected [OH]_GLOBAL, such as the changing overhead burden of stratospheric O3 using observations from OMI, TOMS and SBUV; rising tropospheric H2O using observations from AIRS and reanalysis fields from MERRA; and widening of the climatological tropics using widening rate estimates from the literature and global OH fields from the GEOS Chemistry-Climate Model. Our analysis suggests these factors may have contributed a positive trend to [OH]_GLOBAL large enough to counter the decrease due to CH4.
Keywords:
Meteorology and Climatology; Geophysics
Type:
GSFC-E-DAA-TN18560
,
EOS Aura Science Team Meeting; Sep 15, 2014 - Sep 18, 2014; College Park, MD; United States
Format:
application/pdf
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