ALBERT

Description: Among the objectives of the HIBISCUS campaign was the study of water vapour in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) by balloon borne in situ and remote sensing, offering a unique opportunity for evaluating the performances of balloon and satellite water vapour data available at the southern tropics in February-April 2004. Instruments evaluated include balloon borne in situ tunable diode laser spectrometer (μ SDLA) and surface acoustic wave hygrometer (SAW), and remote sensing with a near IR spectrometer (SAOZ) flown on a circumnavigating long duration balloon. The satellite systems available are those of AIRS/AMSU (v4), SAGE-II (v6.2), HALOE (v19), MIPAS (v4.62) and GOMOS (v6.0). In the stratosphere between 20–25 km, three satellite instruments, HALOE, SAGE-II and MIPAS, are showing very consistent results (nearly constant mixing ratios), while AIRS, GOMOS and the SAOZ balloon are displaying a slight increase with altitude. Considering the previous studies, the first three appear the most precise at this level, HALOE being the less variable (5%), close to the atmospheric variability shown by the REPROBUS/ECMWF Chemistry-Transport model. The three others are showing significantly larger variability, AIRS being the most variable (35%), followed by GOMOS (25%) and SAOZ (20%). Lower down in the Tropical Tropopause Layer between 14–20 km, HALOE and SAGE-II are showing marked minimum mixing ratios around 17–19 km, not seen by all others. For HALOE, this might be related to an altitude registration error already identified on ozone, while for SAGE-II, a possible explanation could be the persistence of the dry bias displayed by previous retrieval versions, not completely removed in version 6.2. On average, MIPAS is consistent with AIRS, GOMOS and SAOZ, not displaying the dry bias observed in past versions, but a fast degradation of precision below 20 km. Compared to satellites, the μ SDLA measurements shows systematically larger humidity although this conclusion may be biased by the fact that the balloon flights were carried out intentionally next or above strong convective systems where remote observations from space are difficult. In the upper troposphere below 14 km, all remote sensing measurements (except MIPAS of limited precision, and AIRS/AMSU) become rare, dry biased and less variable compared to ECMWF, but particularly HALOE and SAGE-II. The main reason for that is the frequent masking by clouds within which no remote measurements could be performed except by the AMSU microwave. Water vapour remote sensing profiles are representative of cloud free conditions only and thus dryer and less variable on average than ECMWF and AIRS/AMSU. Always in the upper troposphere, two in-situ instruments, μ SDLA and SAW, flown on the same balloon agree each other, displaying water vapour mixing ratios 100–200% larger than that of HALOE and MIPAS, which could be explained by the large ice supersaturation of the layer up to the tropopause, hardly detectable from the orbit.

Description: This paper presents a complete characterization of a very deep stratospheric intrusion which occurred over the British Isles on 15 August 2007. The signature of this event is diagnosed using ozonesonde measurements over Lerwick, UK (60.14° N, 1.19° W) and is also well characterized using meteorological analyses from the global operational weather prediction model of Météo-France, ARPEGE. Modelled as well as assimilated fields of both ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) have been used in order to better document this event. The paper also presents a demonstration of the capability of O3 and CO assimilated fields to better describe a stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) event in comparison with the free run modelled O3 and CO fields. O3 and CO from Aura/MLS and Terra/MOPITT instruments, respectively, are assimilated into the three-dimensional chemical transport model MOCAGE of Météo-France using a variational 3-D-FGAT (First Guess at Appropriate Time) method within the MOCAGE-PALM assimilation system. The usefulness of assimilated MOPITT CO data in a STE study is demonstrated in this novel result. The study shows that the use of the model MOCAGE gives consistent 3-D fields capable of describing the synoptic evolution of the event. However, modelled O3 and CO vertical distributions do not provide a quantitative evaluation of the intrusion. Although the assimilation of MLS data improves the distribution of O3 above the tropopause compared to the free model run, it is not sufficient to reproduce the stratospheric intrusion event well. Conversely, assimilated MOPITT CO allows a better description of the stratospheric intrusion event. Indeed, the horizontal distribution of the CO assimilated field is consistent with meteorological analyses. Moreover, the vertical distribution of the CO assimilated field is in accordance with the potential vorticity distribution and reveals a deeper intrusion from the lower stratosphere downward to the mid-troposphere compared to the O3 assimilated field. This study clearly demonstrates the capability of the assimilation of MOPITT CO to improve the CO distribution in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region. In addition, the behaviour of CO assimilated field is consistent with the synoptic evolution of the meteorological conditions. Therefore, the results of this study open the perspectives for using MOPITT CO in the STE studies.

Description: A prominent ozone minimum of less than 240 Dobson Units (DU) was observed over Irene (25.5° S, 28.1° E), a subtropical site in the Southern Hemisphere, by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) during May 2002 with an extremely low ozone value of less than 219 DU recorded on 12 May, as compared to the climatological mean value of 249 DU for May between 1999 and 2005. In this study, the vertical structure of this ozone minimum is examined using ozonesonde measurements performed over Irene on 15 May 2002, when the total ozone (as given by TOMS) was about 226 DU. It is shown that this ozone minimum is of Antarctic polar origin with a low-ozone layer in the middle stratosphere above 625 K (where the climatological ozone gradient points equatorward), and is of tropical origin with a low-ozone layer in the lower stratosphere between the 400-K and 450-K isentropic levels (where the climatological ozone gradient is reversed). The upper and lower depleted parts of the ozonesonde profile for 15 May are then respectively attributed to equatorward and poleward transport of low-ozone air toward the subtropics in the Southern Hemisphere. The tropical air moving over Irene and the polar one passing over the same area associated with enhanced planetary-wave activity are successfully simulated using the high-resolution advection contour model of Ertel's potential vorticity MIMOSA. The unusual distribution of ozone over Irene during May 2002 in the middle stratosphere is connected to the anomalously pre-conditioned structure of the polar vortex at that time of the year. The winter stratospheric wave driving leading to the ozone minimum is investigated by means of the Eliassen-Palm flux computed from the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA40 re-analyses.

Description: This paper reports on an increase of ozone event observed over Kerguelen (49.4° S, 70.3° E) in relationship with large-scale isentropic transport. This is evidenced by ground-based observations (co-localised radiosonde and SAOZ experiments) together with satellite global observations (Aura/MLS) assimilated into MOCAGE, a Méteo-France model. The study is based on the analyses of the first ozonesonde experiment never recorded at the Kerguelen site within the framework of a French campaign called ROCK that took place from April to August 2008. Comparisons and interpretations of the observed event are supported by co-localised SAOZ observations, by global mapping of tracers (O3, N2O and columns of O3) from Aura/MLS and Aura/OMI experiments, and by model simulations of Ertel Potential Vorticity initialised by the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) data reanalyses. Satellite and ground-based observational data revealed a consistent increase of ozone in the local stratosphere by mid-April 2008. Additionally, Ozone (O3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) profiles obtained during January–May 2008 using the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura satellite are assimilated into MOCAGE (MOdèle de Chimie Atmosphérique à Grande Echelle), a global three-dimensional chemistry transport model of Météo-France. The assimilated total O3 values are consistent with SAOZ ground observations (within ±5%), and isentropic distributions of O3 match well with maps of advected potential vorticity (APV) derived from the MIMOSA model, a high-resolution advection transport model, and from the ECMWF reanalysis. The event studied seems to be related to the isentropic transport of air masses that took place simultaneously in the lower- and middle-stratosphere, respectively from the polar region and from the tropics to the mid-latitudes. In fact, the ozone increase observed by mid April 2008 resulted simultaneously: (1) from an equator-ward departure of polar air masses characterised with a high-ozone layer in the lower stratosphere (near the 475 K isentropic level), and (2) from a reverse isentropic transport from the tropics to mid- and high-latitudes in the upper stratosphere (nearby the 700 K level). The increase of ozone observed over Kerguelen from the 16-April ozonesonde profile is thus attributed to a concomitant isentropic transport of ozone in two stratospheric layers: the tropical air moving southward and reaching over Kerguelen in the upper stratosphere, and the polar air passing over the same area but in the lower stratosphere.

Description: This paper mainly focuses on the trends and variability of the UT-LS temperature using radiosonde observations carried out over 16 years (January 1993 to December 2008) from a southern subtropical site, Reunion (20.8° S, 55.5° E), using a linear-regression fitting model. Two kinds of tropopause definitions, namely, cold point tropopause (CPT) and lapse rate tropopause (LRT) are used. In order to characterize and quantify the relationship between regional oceanic forcing and temperature at UT-LS, we took into account the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) for the estimation of temperature trends. Results show that the main component is the Annual Cycle (AC), particularly at tropopause (CPT, LRT) and in the lower stratosphere (LS) where more than 26.0±2.4% of temperature variability can be explained by AC. The influence of IOD on the variability of the temperature is at highest ratio at CPT and LS, with respectively 12.3±7.3% and 13.1±5.9%. The correlations between IOD and temperature anomalies at UT-LS are barely significant, which are found to be in close agreement with the results obtained by Rosenlof et al. (2008) over the western tropical Pacific Ocean. The temperature trend in the LS reveals a cooling of about −0.90±0.40 K per decade. The cooling trend at LS is found to be in close agreement with the others studies. Trend estimates in the LS suggest that IOD forcing contributes to increasing cooling by about 0.16±0.05 K per decade. Past works have shown that the additional carbon dioxide increase has a minor effect in the LS, and suggested that other effects than ozone and carbon dioxide changes have to be considered, in order to explain the observed temperature changes in the LS. From this study, we can suggest that the SST changes can be considered also, in addition to effects due to ozone and carbon dioxide changes, in order to explain the observed temperature changes in the LS. As a consequence, our results support the assumption that the Indian Ocean may have a slight impact on temperature variability and on temperature change in the LS over Reunion.

Description: In this paper, the stellar occultation instrument GOMOS is compared with ozonesondes from the SHADOZ network. We only used nighttime O3 profiles and selected 8 Southern Hemisphere stations. 7 years of GOMOS datasets (GOPR 6.0cf and IPF 5.0) and 11 years of balloon-sondes are used in this study. A monthly distribution of GOMOS O3 mixing ratios was performed in the upper-troposphere and in the stratosphere (15–50 km). A comparison with SHADOZ was made in the altitude range between 15 km and 30 km. In the 21–30 km altitude range, a satisfactory agreement was observed between GOMOS and SHADOZ, although some differences were observed depending on the station. The range for monthly differences generally decreases with increasing height and is within ±15%. It was found that the agreement between GOMOS and SHADOZ declines below ~20 km. The median differences are almost within ±5%, particularly above 23 km. But a large positive bias was found below 21 km, in comparison to SHADOZ.

Description: The first Rayleigh lidar observation of a stratopause warming over a tropical site, Gadanki (13.5° N; 79.2° E), is presented in this paper. The warming event was observed on 22-23 February 2001, and found to occur in the stratopause region (~45km). The magnitude of the warming was found to be ~18K with respect to the winter-mean temperature profile derived from the lidar data collected over March 1998 to July 2001. The event observed by the lidar has also been seen in data from the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) on board the UARS satellite. The zonal-mean temperature at 80° N and the zonal-mean zonal wind at 60° N from the National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analysis indicate that a major warming episode took place in the northern polar hemisphere a week before the day of the observation over Gadanki. Eliassen-Palm (E-P) flux calculations from ECMWF analysis show evidence of propagation of planetary-wave activity from high and mid- to low latitudes subsequent to the major warming episode over the pole. Our results support the view that the most likely source mechanism for the observed stratopause warming is the increase in planetary-wave activity.

Description: Temperature trends in the UTLS region are under-reported, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere, and yet temperature is one of the most important indicators of changes in dynamical and radiative processes in the atmosphere. Here radiosonde data from Durban, South Africa (30.0° S, 30.9° E) over the period 1980 to 2001 (22 years) between 250 and 20 hPa are used to derive a mean temperature climatology and to determine trends. The seasonal cycle at the 250-hPa level is anti-correlated with the seasonal cycles at the 150-hPa and 100-hPa heights. The 100-hPa level (local tropopause) exhibits a minimum temperature in late summer and a maximum in winter, and closely corresponds to previous results for tropical regions. Based on a Fourier analysis, both the annual cycle (AO) and the semi-annual cycle (SAO) are dominant, although the former is about 4 times stronger. The AO is strongest at the 100-hPa height. A trend analysis reveals a cooling trend at almost all heights in the UTLS region, with a maximum cooling rate of 1.09±0.41 K per decade, at 70-hPa. Cooling rates are in good agreement with other studies and are slightly higher in summer than in winter.

Description: Balloon water vapour in situ and remote measurements in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) obtained during the HIBISCUS campaign around 20° S in Brazil in February–March 2004 using a tunable diode laser (μSDLA), a surface acoustic wave (SAW) and a Vis-NIR solar occultation spectrometer (SAOZ) on a long duration balloon, have been used for evaluating the performances of satellite borne remote water vapour instruments available at the same latitude and measurement period. In the stratosphere, HALOE displays the best precision (2.5%), followed by SAGE II (7%), MIPAS (10%), SAOZ (20–25%) and SCIAMACHY (35%), all of which show approximately constant H2O mixing ratios between 20–25 km. Compared to HALOE of ±10% accuracy between 0.1–100 hPa, SAGE II and SAOZ show insignificant biases, MIPAS is wetter by 10% and SCIAMACHY dryer by 20%. The currently available GOMOS profiles of 25% precision show a positive vertical gradient in error for identified reasons. Compared to these, the water vapour of the Reprobus Chemistry Transport Model, forced at pressures higher than 95 hPa by the ECMWF analyses, is dryer by about 1 ppmv (20%). In the lower stratosphere between 16–20 km, most notable features are the steep degradation of MIPAS precision below 18 km, and the appearance of biases between instruments far larger than their quoted total uncertainty. HALOE and SAGE II (after spectral adjustment for reducing the bias with HALOE at northern mid-latitudes) both show decreases of water vapour with a minimum at the tropopause not seen by other instruments or the model, possibly attributable to an increasing error in the HALOE altitude registration. Between 16–18 km where the water vapour concentration shows little horizontal variability, and where the μSDLA balloon measurements are not perturbed by outgassing, the average mixing ratios reported by the remote sensing instruments are substantially lower than the 4–5 ppmv observed by the μSDLA. Differences between μSDLA and HALOE and SAGE II (of the order of −2 ppmv), SCIAMACHY, MIPAS and GOMOS (−1 ppmv) and SAOZ (−0.5 ppmv), exceed the 10% uncertainty of μSDLA, implying larger systematic errors than estimated for the various instruments. In the upper troposphere, where the water vapour concentration is highly variable, AIRS v5 appears to be the most consistent within its 25% uncertainty with balloon in-situ measurements as well as ECMWF. Most of the remote measurements show less reliability in the upper troposphere, losing sensitivity possibly because of absorption line saturation in their spectral ranges (HALOE, SAGE II and SCIAMACHY), instrument noise exceeding 100% (MIPAS) or imperfect refraction correction (GOMOS). An exception is the SAOZ-balloon, employing smaller H2O absorption bands in the troposphere.

Description: The validation of ozone profiles retrieved by satellite instruments through comparison with data from ground-based instruments is important to monitor the evolution of the satellite instrument, to assist algorithm development and to allow multi-mission trend analyses. In this study we compare ozone profiles derived from GOMOS night-time observations with measurements from lidar, microwave radiometer and balloon sonde. Collocated pairs are analysed for dependence on several geophysical and instrument observational parameters. Validation results are presented for the operational ESA level 2 data (GOMOS version 5.00) obtained during nearly seven years of observations and a comparison using a smaller dataset from the previous processor (version 4.02) is also included. The profiles obtained from dark limb measurements (solar zenith angle 〉107°) when the provided processing flag is properly considered match the ground-based measurements within ±2 percent over the altitude range 20 to 40 km. Outside this range, the pairs start to deviate more and there is a latitudinal dependence: in the polar region where there is a higher amount of straylight contamination, differences start to occur lower in the mesosphere than in the tropics, whereas for the lower part of the stratosphere the opposite happens: the profiles in the tropics reach less far down as the signal reduces faster because of the higher altitude at which the maximum ozone concentration is found compared to the mid and polar latitudes. Also the bias is shifting from mostly negative in the polar region to more positive in the tropics Profiles measured under "twilight" conditions are often matching the ground-based measurements very well, but care has to be taken in all cases when dealing with "straylight" contaminated profiles. For the selection criteria applied here (data within 800 km, 3 degrees in equivalent latitude, 20 h (5 h above 50 km) and a relative ozone error in the GOMOS data of 20% or less), no dependence was found on stellar magnitude, star temperature, nor the azimuth angle of the line of sight. No evidence of a temporal trend was seen either in the bias or frequency of outliers, but a comparison applying less strict data selection criteria might show differently.