Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport (START) Experiment

Stratosphere-Troposphere Stratosphere-Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport Analyses of Regional Transport (START) Experiment(START) Experiment

Investigators:Investigators:

Laura Pan (PI, ACD/TIIMES)Ken Bowman (Texas A&M)Mel Shapiro (NOAA/NCARMMM)Bill Randel (ACD)Rushan Gao (NOAA) Teresa Campos (ACD/EOL)Chris Davis (MMM)Sue Schauffler (ACD)

Frontal Cloud - flt 2005-12-14

Collaborators: Collaborators:

Chris BarnetJennifer Wei(NOAA/NESDIS Satellite data)

Satellite data support:

Sylvia Murphy (ACD)

Acknowledgments:

Jorgen JensenAl Schanot

Al CooperJeff Stith

Henry Boynton, Bob Maxson, Lowell Genzlinger and Ed Ringleman

Rit CarboneBrian Ridley

Enter the Rockies - FLT 051209

Upper Troposphere & Lower Stratosphere - A region of coupled dynamics, chemistry and cloud

microphysics

HIAPER Progressive Science Mission(22 November- 23 December, 2005)

Daybreak before take off 2005-12-21

NASA A-Train Satellites

Science Objectives

Low pass of Rockies- Flt 2005-12-07

• Characterize the dynamical structure of the extratropical tropopause in and around the subtropical jet

• Identify the chemical transition from the troposphere to stratosphere across the extratropical tropopause.

• Investigate the irreversible STE & mixing produced by multiple scale dynamical processes

AIRS Ozone on 250 hPa (in 1x1 degree average)

May 15, 2004 Monthly mean May, 2004

AIRS Ozone Cross Section (1x1 degree average)

May 15, 2004, Lon=160 E

Tropospheric tracer

Str

ato

sph

eri

c tr

ace

r

Stratosphere

Troposphere

Stratospheric tracer

Tropospheric tracer

Alt

itu

de

TP

Chemical Transition using Relative Altitude (RALT) and Tracer-Tracer Correlations (TTC)

Tropopause or transition lyr

Example : NASA ER-2, POLARIS July 10, 1997

[Pan et al., 2004]

CO (z)

CO (pv) CO (RALT)

The “Relative Altitude Coordinates” (to locate the chemical transition between St-Tr)

[Pan et al., 2004]

ER-2 data O3-H2O (POLARIS)

WACCM3

1.9x2.5

4x5

Model Evaluation

• Four successful flights (7-9 hour each, out of 6 planned)

• Measurements: O3, H2O, CO, in addition to

meteorological parameters (and other possible tracers such as CN)

• Near real time satellite data via collaboration with AIRS science team

• Sampled several cases of stratospheric intrusion

• Obtained information on mixing and STE• Valuable data for AIRS ozone validation

START Experiment Highlights

Meteor Crater - Flight 2005-12-07

Status of Data and Data Analyses

• Ozone data became available during the experiment. Intercomparison with CMDL ozonesonde show excellent agreement.

• Initial analyses and comparison with satellite data, meteorological analyses data have been carried out

• Water vapor preliminary data became available ~ 2 weeks ago, further calibration in progress

• CO data is still under Q/C verification• Trajectory analyses in progress

Ozone Validation with CMDL Ozonesonde

START Flight #2 (502RF03 -051207)

Flight RF03 - 2005-12-07

START Flight #2 (RF03 -051207)

Enhancement of Ozone at Lower Troposphere due to the Intrusion

START Flight #4 RF08 - 2005-12-14

START Flight #4 RF08 - 2005-12-14

START Flt #4 2005-12-14

START Flight #1 2005-12-01 (502RF01)

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

START Flight #1 2005-12-01 (502RF01)

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and aAnimation decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Stratospheric Intrusion and the Separation Stratospheric Intrusion and the Separation of the Thermal and Dynamical Tropopauseof the Thermal and Dynamical Tropopause

O3 (z) O3 (RALT)

H2O (z) H2O (RALT)

Summary

Results from the START experiment

• Demonstrated the capability of HIAPER in UTLS studies

• Initial data provided good validation for the satellite retrievals

• Sampled multiple cases of stratospheric intrusions. Characterization of the air mass in the region of intrusion using tracer-tracer correlation and trajectory model is in progress

Thank You !

Shadows of Monument Valley - Flight 051209