Cameron R. Homeyer

The Stratosphere–Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport 2008 Experiment

The Stratosphere–Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport 2008 (START08) experiment investigated a number of important processes in the extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) using the National Science Foundation (NSF)–NCAR Gulfstream V (GV) research aircraft. The main objective was to examine the chemical structure of the extratropical UTLS in relation to dynamical processes spanning a range of scales. The campaign was conducted during April–June 2008 from Broomfield, Colorado. A total of 18 research flights sampled an extensive geographical region of North America (25°–65°N, 80°–120°W) and a wide range of meteorological conditions. The airborne in situ instruments measured a comprehensive suite of chemical constituents and microphysical variables from the boundary layer to the lower stratosphere, with flights specifically designed to target key transport processes in the extratropical UTLS. The flights successfully investigated stratosphere–troposphere exchange (STE) processes, ...

Microphysical Characteristics of Overshooting Convection from Polarimetric Radar Observations

The authors present observations of the microphysical characteristics of deep convection that overshoots the altitude of the extratropical tropopause from analysis of the polarimetric radar variables of radar reflectivity factor at horizontal polarization ZH, differential reflectivity ZDR, and specific differential phase KDP. Identified overshooting convective storms are separated by their organization and intensity into three classifications: organized convection, discrete ordinary convection, and discrete supercell convection. Composite analysisof identifiedstorms foreach classification reveals microphysical featuressimilar tothose found inpreviousstudiesofdeepconvection,withdeepcolumnsofhighlypositiveZDRandKDPrepresentinglofting of liquid hydrometeors within the convective updraft and above the melting level. In addition, organized and discrete supercell classifications show distinct near-zero ZDR minima aligned horizontally with and at altitudes higher than the updraft column features, likely indicative of the frequent presence of large hail in each case. Composites for organized convective systems show a similar ZDR minimum throughout the portion of the convective core that is overshooting the tropopause, corresponding to ZH in the range of 15‐30dBZ and negative KDP observations, in agreement with the scattering properties of small hail and/or lump or conical graupel. Additional analyses of the evolution of overshooting storms reveals that the ZDR minima indicative of hail in the middle and upper troposphere and graupel in the overshooting top are associated with the mature and decaying stages of overshooting, respectively, supporting their inferred contributions to the observed polarimetric fields.

Thunderstorms enhance tropospheric ozone by wrapping and shedding stratospheric air

A significant source of ozone in the troposphere is transport from the stratosphere. The stratospheric contribution has been estimated mainly using global models that attribute the transport process largely to the global scale Brewer-Dobson circulation and synoptic scale dynamics associated with upper tropospheric jet streams. We report observations from research aircraft that reveal additional transport of ozone-rich stratospheric air downward into the upper troposphere by a leading-line-trailing-stratiform (LLTS) mesoscale convective system (MCS) with convection overshooting the tropopause altitude. The fine-scale transport demonstrated by these observations poses a significant challenge to global models that currently do not resolve storm scale dynamics. Thus the upper tropospheric ozone budget simulated by global chemistry-climate models where large-scale dynamics and photochemical production from lightning-produced NO are the controlling factors may require modification.

Upper tropospheric ozone production from lightning NOx-impacted convection: Smoke ingestion case study from the DC3 campaign

As part of the Deep Convective Cloud and Chemistry (DC3) experiment, the National Science Foundation/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Gulfstream-V (GV) and NASA DC-8 research aircraft probed the chemical composition of the inflow and outflow of two convective storms (north storm, NS, south storm, SS) originating in the Colorado region on 22 June 2012, a time when the High Park wildfire was active in the area. A wide range of trace species were measured on board both aircraft including biomass burning (BB) tracers hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and acetonitrile (ACN). Acrolein, a much shorter lived tracer for BB, was also quantified on the GV. The data demonstrated that the NS had ingested fresh smoke from the High Park fire and as a consequence had a higher VOC OH reactivity than the SS. The SS lofted aged fire tracers along with other boundary layer ozone precursors and was more impacted by lightning NO_x (LNO_x) than the NS. The NCAR master mechanism box model was initialized with measurements made in the outflow of the two storms. The NS and SS were predicted to produce 11 and 14u2009ppbv of O_3, respectively, downwind of the storm over 2u2009days. Sensitivity tests revealed that the ozone production potential of the SS was highly dependent on LNO_x. Normalized excess mixing ratios, ΔX/ΔCO, for HCN and ACN were determined in both the fire plume and the storm outflow and found to be 7.0u2009±u20090.5 and 2.3u2009±u20090.5u2009pptvu2009ppbv^(−1), respectively, and 1.4u2009±u20090.3u2009pptvu2009ppbv^(−1) for acrolein in the outflow only.

Formation of the Enhanced-V Infrared Cloud-Top Feature from High-Resolution Three-Dimensional Radar Observations

The responsible mechanism for the formation of the enhanced-V infrared cloud-top feature observed above tropopause-penetrating thunderstorms is not well understood. A new method for the combination of volumetric radar reflectivity from individual radars into three-dimensional composites with high vertical resolution (1km) is introduced and used to test various formation mechanisms proposed in the literature. For analysis, a set of 89 enhanced-V storms over the eastern continental United States are identified in the 10-yr period from 2001 to 2010 using geostationary satellite data. The background atmospheric state from each storm is determined using the Interim ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and radiosonde observations. In conjunction with the infrared temperature fields, analysis of the radar data in a coordinate relative to thelocationoftheovershootingconvectivetopandinaltitudesrelativetothetropopausesuggeststhataboveanvil (stratospheric) cirrus clouds are the most likely mechanism for the formation of the enhanced V.

Convective transport of water vapor into the lower stratosphere observed during double‐tropopause events

We present in situ observations of convectively injected water vapor in the lower stratosphere from instruments aboard two aircraft operated during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry experiment. Water vapor mixing ratios in the injected air are observed to be 60–225 ppmv at altitudes 1–2 km above the tropopause (350–370 K potential temperature), well above observed background mixing ratios of 5–10 ppmv in the lower stratosphere. Radar observations of the responsible convective systems show deep overshooting at altitudes up to 4 km above the lapse rate tropopause and above the flight ceilings of the aircraft. Backward trajectories from the in situ observations show that convectively injected water vapor is observed from three distinct types of systems: isolated convection, a convective line, and a leading line-trailing stratiform mesoscale convective system. Significant transport of additional tropospheric or boundary layer trace gases is observed only for the leading line-trailing stratiform case. In addition, all observations of convective injection are found to occur within large-scale double-tropopause events from poleward Rossby wave breaking. Based on this relationship, we present a hypothesis on the role of the large-scale lower stratosphere during convective overshooting. In particular, the reduced lower stratosphere stability associated with double-tropopause environments may facilitate deeper levels of overshooting and convective injection.

Dynamical and chemical characteristics of tropospheric intrusions observed during START08

[1]xa0Intrusions of air from the tropical upper troposphere into the extratropical stratosphere above the subtropical jet potentially have a significant impact on the composition of the lowermost stratosphere (the stratospheric part of the “middle world”). We present an analysis of tropospheric intrusion events observed during the Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport 2008 (START08) experiment using kinematic and chemical diagnostics. The transport processes operating during each event are discussed using high-resolution model analyses and backward trajectory calculations. Each intrusion observed during START08 can be related to a Rossby wavebreaking event over the Pacific Ocean. Trajectory analysis shows that the intruding air masses can be traced back to the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. In situ chemical observations of the tropospheric intrusions are used to estimate the mixing time scales of the observed intrusions through use of a simple box model and trace species with different photochemical lifetimes. We estimate that the time scale for an intrusion to mix with the background stratospheric air is 5 to 6 days. Detailed analysis of small-scale features with tropospheric characteristics observed in the stratosphere suggests frequent irreversible transport associated with tropospheric intrusions. Trace gas distributions and correlations are consistent with the dynamics of the high-resolution NCEP GFS analyses, suggesting that these features are captured by the GFS assimilation and forecast system. A global analysis of intrusion events observed during the START08 time period (April–June 2008) is also given.

Rossby Wave Breaking and Transport between the Tropics and Extratropics above the Subtropical Jet

AbstractRossby wave breaking is an important mechanism for the two-way exchange of air between the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and the extratropical lower stratosphere. The authors present a 30-yr climatology (1981–2010) of anticyclonically and cyclonically sheared wave-breaking events along the boundary of the tropics in the 350–500-K potential temperature range from ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim). Lagrangian transport analyses show net equatorward transport from wave breaking near 380 K and poleward transport at altitudes below and above the 370–390-K layer. The finding of poleward transport at lower levels is in disagreement with previous studies and is shown to largely depend on the choice of tropical boundary. In addition, three distinct modes of transport for anticyclonic wave-breaking events are found near the tropical tropopause (380 K): poleward, equatorward, and symmetric. Transport associated with cyclonic wave-breaking events, however, is predominantly poleward. ...

Extratropical tropopause transition layer characteristics from high-resolution sounding data

[1]xa0Accurate determination of the tropopause is important for applications such as dynamical analysis and forecasting, radiative transfer calculations, and the diagnosis of chemical transport in the atmosphere. In this paper, we examine how well the extratropical tropopause is determined in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction high-resolution Global Forecast System (GFS) model analysis over the continental United States using high-resolution aircraft and radiosonde data. The GFS analyses and sounding data compare well, with RMS differences of approximately 600 m, which is comparable to the vertical resolution of the model. The GFS tropopause is a good proxy in areas without in situ observations, but near the subtropical jet the GFS analysis often mistakenly identifies the secondary rather than the primary tropopause. We also explore an alternative method to identify the tropopause by fitting a smoothed step function to the static stability profile. This new approach provides a measure of the depth of the troposphere-stratosphere transition and facilitates the study of the dynamical behavior of the tropopause region. In particular, using the transition depth, we are able to identify the statistical behavior of temperature in profiles with deep or shallow tropopause transition layers.

Transport from convective overshooting of the extratropical tropopause and the role of large-scale lower stratosphere stability

Simulations of observed convective systems with the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting (ARW-WRF) model are used to test the influence of the large-scale lower stratosphere stability environment on the vertical extent of convective overshooting and transport above the extratropical tropopause. Three unique environments are identified (double tropopause, stratospheric intrusion, and single tropopause), and representative cases with comparable magnitudes of convective available potential energy are selected for simulation. Convective injection into the extratropical lower stratosphere is found to be deepest for the double-tropopause case (up to 4 km above the lapse-rate tropopause) and at comparable altitudes for the remaining cases (up to 2 km above the lapse-rate tropopause). All simulations show evidence of gravity wave breaking near the overshooting convective top, consistent with the identification of its role as a transport mechanism in previous studies. Simulations for the double-tropopause case, however, also show evidence of direct mixing of the overshooting top into the lower stratosphere, which is responsible for the highest levels of injection in that case. In addition, the choice of bulk microphysical parameterization for ARW-WRF simulations is found to have little impact on the transport characteristics for each case.