Summary

The upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) is a highly coupled region of the atmosphere where radiation, dynamics, clouds and chemical processes interact on a wide variety of spatial and temporal scales. We use a suite of instruments at Davis, Antarctica (69S, 78E) to investigate Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange (STE) in the high southern latitudes and its effect on the troposphere under a variety of meteorological conditions. A Rayleigh lidar provides observations of tropospheric cirrus clouds and (wintertime) polar stratospheric clouds near the tropopause; a Very High Frequency (VHF) radar resolves the year-round radar tropopause; and co-located vertically-resolved ozone profiles are available from ozonesondes. Using these data, we will present case studies of STE events and their effects on clouds and tropospheric ozone. The high-resolution structure and seasonal variability of the radar tropopause will also be presented, along with its relation to meteorological events.

Authors:Alexander S.P. Klekociuk A.R. Murphy D.J. Published in: 2012 Category 3: Poster Program area: Climate Processes and Change
Alexander S.P., Klekociuk A.R., Murphy D.J. (2012) High-resolution Antarctic observations of the stratospheric influence on the troposphere, 3rd International Conference on Earth System Modelling, Hamburg, Germany, 17-21 September 2012 .; http://meetings.copernicus.org/3icesm/;

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